So, I have to be truthful. You are home, on land, and like me two years ago when I was reading avidly the adventures of cruisers, I was saying "lucky them, I would like so much to do that...."it does sure seem like it is all peachy and rosy, the perfect dream! Well I would say 90 % of the time it is but I do hate the 10% left! This morning was one of the prime example of not living a dream: We are still in Aitatuki now since 10 days waiting for weather and the wind is not laying off! We decided to go today in 25-30 knots of wind with a formed sea and 5 meters waves and my stomach is so tight that I am already seasick before departure. I am so afraid, it is not even funny and to top it all we have to begin by getting out of the pass which is a narrow manmade cut very shallow at one point.... So we made it ok... We have the main (three reefs in it), the wind is coming from the back so the movement is not as bad as I thought it would be, but we are still protected by the lee shore of the island, the big bad waves have not reached us yet! The ocean is dark blue with white caps all over! Yesterday two boats tried to leave Palmerston and came back after 15 minutes and the other; 1 hour...it was too rough. Right now O'Vive is sliding through at 9.5 knots and we have hardly any sail out!!!! The movement is slightly better and I am feeling a little better as I see that the boat can handle it fine. We are on our third day out , first night, neither me or David could get any sleep (30-35 knots and rough), 2nd night was better and we were exhausted, so we slept much better, and today third day is heaven, the wind came down at 20-25 knots, the waves are down, only 3 meters by now. Two other boats broke their automatic pilot and had to steer by hand, so we feel lucky... and I have my David, never doubting (or at least never showing it) and the kids seeing their dad confident that everything will pass and we will be in a beautiful island soon enough, are never complaining too much and sleep still like babies in a 35 knots wind when it is hammering out there. I know the true sailors are going to laugh at me but I also am sure that a lot of the cruisers have the same stomach ache before leaving, I just thought I will share this with you, lucky guys on land, sleeping tight in your stable bed tonight.....but I still would not change my place with anybody for a million dollars when I am going to see the island on the horizon tomorrow, and the sailboats of our friends waiting for us.... there is nothing like arriving...... It is a firework exploding in your stomach and it makes go away all the little stomach aches.
We arrived in Niue September 6th at 10:30am local time: 581 miles in 72 hours and 15 minutes!