[password]waiknot
[position]18 42.675S 174 02.248W

[status]
We have decided to wait until next week, probably Wednesday, before departing Vava'u for Wallis Island. There are strong winds and big swells forecast for the next 5 days at least, so will stay in the protected waters of Vava'u. In the meantime we are making the most of our time here. Yesterday we spent some time watching whales and Karl did some unexpected big game fishing. More about our adventures in the new blog.

[blog]
What a day we had yesterday! We decided to go for a sail. The waters in the channels around the islands in Vava'u are protected from swell, so are fairly smooth even in the stiff breeze we had, around 25 knots. We were not far out of the harbour when we spotted whales(Humpback)ahead. For almost an hour we watched a mother and her calf playing together on the surface. Gently rolling, turning, shallow diving, breaching, blowing, tail flapping. Just beautiful. A group of snorkelers from one of the whale watch charters were in the water with the whales and this didn't seem to worry Mum or baby at all, they looked quite happy to have humans swimming around. We couldn't join them in the water as it is illegal to swim with whales from a private yacht, you need to be with a licensed operator. But it was fantastic to watch them. An hour later, towards the southern end of the channel we spotted two more whales. Heather managed to get some video of them blowing and diving with their sig
nature tail flick before they disappeared. We got the sails up again for the third time that day and within half an hour we had a strike on the fishing line. In the stiff breeze we were getting along at around 7 knots and the fish decided to swim the other way! Karl grabbed the rod and Heather turned the boat around, then hauled in the sails again while Karl fought with the line. The fish just about stripped all the line off the reel before Karl could start getting some of it back in again. While Heather kept watch and steered away from land and rocks, Karl played the fish (or perhaps the fish played Karl?) for over half an hour. Slowly Karl got the fish closer to the boat. And then it jumped up out of the water. It was something very large! Eventually Karl managed to land it. It was a Sailfish, which looks just like a Marlin with a long bill nose and stripes, but also has a large fin on its back like a big sail. At 180cm long this was the biggest fish Karl (or Heather) has
ever landed. (In May this year, on the way to Minerva, Karl caught a 96cm Mahi mahi and this had been his biggest catch until now.) Wow! What a thrill - and so unexpected because Sailfish are big game fish and are usually much further offshore. We decided to let him go again, so he lives to fight another day. We finished the day with a swim in the clear azure waters around Nuku Island before celebrating with a gin and tonic. Another magical day!

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