[password] pilot25041
[position] 27 33.16s 144 24.5w
[status] today dawned with a mixture of clouds and blue sky, it was another peaceful night in the anchorage and at times a clear sky and full moon lighting the whole bay so it was nearly like daylight. We had our second serving of Tuna for dinner, Andrew cooked it in a coconut and fish curry mix absolutely fab! After a leisurely breakfast we wandered ashore to look around the north-side village; Area. Again there was a very nice church, slightly 'posher' than the other one as this one has wooden strip panelling covering the ceiling rather than bare concrete, we meandered down the road, viewing people's 'allotments' where they appeared to be cultivating salad vegetables and then back to Surreal for a brew, to await our 11am allotted hour to collect the fresh bread.
Bread collected we lifted our anchor and motored to the wharf to fill up with water, a few odd jobs on the boat and a load of washing later we then had a send off party stood on the wharf: Octavia (taxi driver), Allain (police municipal) & Bernard (diesel pump attendant), although at this stage we still hadn't committed to leaving today. We bade them goodbye just before 13.00hrs and decided to depart, as there was nothing else to see on Rapa and we had everything on board for our next circa 650-700nm ocean leg!

We've had lunch and are now motor sailing under full main & genoa past the top of the island in a westerly direction, which although not ideal is far better than the other tack where we'd be 60 degrees off course, more tales of our adventures and progress tomorrow.
Position 13.00 nzst.
[speed] 8kts
[heading] 250T
[weather] 15knts NW, 1.5m swell from the W, 30% cloud cover.

[END]