The first part of the morning was spent readying the boat for ocean sailing. That mainly meant tidying things up a little more than normal as well as putting on the jack lines around the boat to allow safe movement around the deck in bad weather. On the way over to our ‘secret’ location our problem with one of the baton holders recurred. I spent a little while working out a fix yesterday and hopefully have the issue now under control.
Once the boat work was complete, Lissa and I went ashore to feel terra firma for a while. Helen, perhaps feeling a little anxious about the forthcoming passage, wasn’t feeling brilliant and stayed aboard. I took my running shorts with me and went for a run around the perimeter of the island. I had intended to run two circuits but when I hit the soft sand on the back leg by own legs felt very wobbly so one circuit was enough this time. I think I really need to get into a bit more running when I can.
We spent the rest of the morning hanging out and telling jokes, most of them coming from Don from Coramundel.
We returned for lunch and later in the afternoon I went ashore on my own to deal with our surplus wine.
At 5pm we all went ashore. Helen and Lissa were soon being looked after by the locals and ended up playing a passive part in the ‘cava ceremony’ put on for the arriving visitors. Helen, again, looked incredibly nice and Lissa looked pretty good too.
Regular blog readers will probably have a very good idea where we are right now so here are a few pics from last night which will totally give the game away.
The current weather forecast couldn’t look any better. If the real weather matches the forecast weather we’ll be on one tack all the way down to New Zealand. The first few days should be in relatively light seas although there is a chance of the seas picking up towards the end. We are absolutely and definitely leaving today. We’ll go ashore for breakfast but on our return the dinghy will be prepped for passage and we’ll be off.