[radioactiv]

[position] 18 39.34s 173 55.53w

[status] This lat and long was from my iphone, not our chartplotter (which is turned off, and hard to get to when our boat is all shut up for the rain) so I hope it’s accurate? Currently we are on a mooring in Neiafu Harbour. We got here yesterday after the VHF 26 channel cruiser-net spoke of 360 degree winds – that’s always a scary thought when you are anchored in a sandy spot with coral heads all around you. So we came in and picked up a Beluga Dive Mooring ball. Pretty cool actually, the mooring ball has a number (43 in our case) and then a VHF channel number – 9, so you just radio up Beluga Dive on the VHF, and let them know you’re on their mooring. We had been anchored for most of yesterday at Port Maurelle, there was this massive super launch (164ft long 33ft beam (wide)) anchored in there as well, and with that massive vessel in there, it’s hard to find a sandy spot for little ol’ Moonfish. Apparently it’s owned (surprise surprise) by some business tycoon
, so has decided to take a year off (rather surprising for a business tycoon) and go around the world. How’s that for a plan!! You should see how many staff they have on board, they even have a camera man taking footage of them on a separate tender!! Sasha went for a snorkel from the boat all the way to the beach – it’s like swimming in a tropical aquarium, so many fish, parrot, clown (I FOUND NEMO!!), little electric blue ones, and larger white-as-sand ones that seem to like it right up in the shallows of the beach – no sharks though which is nice for a change! Mike was also snorkeling but more to check on the anchor, as there was quite a bit of coral around. Lanye from Fusio joined Sasha on the white sandy beach, and we spoke about kitesurfing as Layne, Warwick and Mike have gone kiting on the sand island out from Kenutu Island for the past two days. Sounds like Layne is really picking it up well. Sasha it looking forward to her arm being normal again, so she can
join in too, after consulting with Nurse-Mappy and Doctor Pappy, it sounds like there’s a little bit of nerve and tendon damage (pins and needles), so Sasha it going to keep resting it for a few more days to help it heal. As Layne and Sasha were talking on the beach there was a rustle from the bushes, then a random cow trundled out of the bush stared at them for a few seconds, then carried on her way, it is so weird for a cow to appear from no where on a tropical island and then just saunter back into the bush, like it’s no thing. We’ve been asked for rope twice by different locals, they say they want rope to tie up their cow – hilarious as we had been told this was a line they give to sailors and then they sell the rope in the markets at exorbitant prices. If we ever come back here we will buy a heap of cheap rope from The Warehouse and have a ‘rope-scramble’ in the market one day in exchange for fruit!

[speed] 0knots

[heading]

[weather] 100% cloud cover, a bit colder than it has been, and RAIN.. lots and lots of RAIN
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