[p]beale12.4
[s]
pos: 17 10.85s 179 01.39w
Date: 27/06/2017 06:00 gmt+12:00
And Tuesday dawns to a magnificent Team New Zealand victory in the Americas cup. Even we slow-going cruising sailors aren't immune to the allure of the pinnacle of yacht racing.
We had a fantastic day yesterday, touring the Bay of Islands on a Fijian long boat from Daliconi village. They took us to a collection of places we would not have found or ventured into by ourselves. Caves, cathedrals, reefs, inlets. Turquoise water, amazing limestone rock formations. And overlaying it all a kind of group happiness at being here and experiencing this adventure. A diverse group of cruisers with a wide range of backgrounds and knowledge and shapes and sizes, and a great sense of cameraderie.
The day had brilliant sunshine and light wind so we are seeing Fiji is at its sparking best. It's hard to believe that only a couple of years ago, Cyclone Winston ripped through here and there was not a green leaf remaining after winds rumoured to have been 200 knots!
Today, everything is verdant again. The overwhelming image is lush green down to the waters edge.
The tour was a couple of hours, then we passed the day peacefully enjoying the sunshine. A lot of stand up paddle boarding going on for exercise, and for the best view of what is under the water. We didn't bring paddleboards, and we're regretting it a bit now. But we row or swim for exercise, and just enjoy being here.
A classic cruisers afternoon get together for foursies. A dinghy raft-up in Bat Cove. No bats, but we ended up with 20 dinghies loosely hanging off one anchor and one line tied to a tree on an islet in the cove.
The kids were bouncing from dinghy to dinghy. The adults lazily swapping stories and snacks and drinking and gossiping and laughing and laughing some more, and generally passing the lovely time of day.
That get together ended up with the hard core of 6 or so dinghies still lashed together after dark, drunkenly touring the anchorage with a single outboard puttering along, looking for a party boat.
Who could resist?
So Manutaki became home to the dinghy flotilla for a couple of very funny hours - 14 in the cockpit and Fleetwood Mac's Rumours at full volume.
All good fun.
Another splendid day cruising. Moving on today, I think. Slowly heading in the direction of the Southern Lau group.
Great news about the Americas cup. Yay.

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