[password] pilot25041
[position] 19 36.39s 174 27.48w
[status] Saturday 6th October and we're anchored just outside Ofolanga reef, its very hot and virtually no wind, so we've just put up the sun shade tent for the first time in many months!

So on Thursday we did everything we needed to on shore and then departed from Neaifu, sailing under just the genoa to an anchorage off Falevai village, after lunch we fixed the broken batten holder on the main sail (the 6th one we've replaced on this trip!), went swimming off the back of the boat and generally relaxing ready to depart on Friday morning ........ overnight we had many rain showers and just before 6am the winds again started to get up very strongly, the rain was lashing down and after prepping the boat ready to depart at 7am, we then added thunder and lightning into the mix, visibility by now had dropped to less than 150m, so raising the anchor was delayed for a while....... 45mins or so later the conditions eased and with the thunder and lightning by now abated and visibility fairly good we decided to depart. At first we were just under engine, then as we exited the islands we raised the full main and genoa, the wind had by now eased to 9kts from the NW, despit
e all forecasts and gribs indicating a NE wind flow. Anyway we were motor sailing toward our destination some 57nm away, the wind did very little apart from ease to the point we were only getting 3-4kts at times, the sea was confused, with big swells from SE & NE at the same time, making the boat motion fairly unpleasant, requiring Pam to take some seasickness pills to prevent her talking to the ocean!

In all a fairly uneventful trip, but we did have numerous whale sightings on the way, from just occasional spouts, to breaching whales and lots of pectoral fin slapping, so this kept us occupied on our journey, we then got down to Haano island, just as the sun was setting, this is a fairly open anchorage as you don't actually go in through the reef. There was another NZ boat already anchored in there but that was it, so we had a peaceful relaxed night, the sailing books indicated that there was good snorkelling here, so after breakfast we donned our kit and departed for the rocks near the boat, yes the snorkelling was good, plenty of fish, excellent visibility and lots of coral the likes of which we've not seen before. There was virtually no wind so we then set off to where we are now ....... and guess what? ...... yes more whales even on the short 10nm trip across to here. This anchorage is only suitable in settled calm weather as there is virtually no protection, as the gr
ibs show little or no wind until the middle of next week, we think we'll be ok overnight ......... 2 other boats here; a monohull and 24m catamaran!

This afternoon we ventured ashore to explore ...... the island looks uninhabited, but has fabulous sandy beaches, we didn't get too far as there are no paths and the rocks on the shore line are very slippery, not sure where to next after this, but it will definitely be a 'motor' sail!

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