After leaving Nuku'alofa with a farewell horn blast from Balvenie, we had a slow start beating into the wind heading down the east coast of Tongatapu Island. Poor Echo Echo did not appreciate having her hull pounding on the waves and even though we were motoring we could only do about 3-4 knots in the waves. Once around the headland, a few hours later, we were able to set the sails and start sailing. Last night all went well and we sailed through the night averaging 5-6 knots with a wind from the NE. it was quite cold and so I had a blanket, long pants and my jacket on and Neil put on long trousers and a jumper as well. We have had pasta dinners two nights in a row, but at least today I remembered to take out the sauce from the freezer. I had prepared meals for the journey, but had forgotten to take something out for the first night and it took a while to defrost in the microwave. I was a lot smarter tonight. Tonight, we also had an alcoholic drink with dinner, which we don't normally do on our passages. So many people have said to me, it helps with sea sickness and a nice routine to do each evening. So I thought we might follow that practise on this passage. We could do with some chilling out and not just by the weather!

We have had a pretty good day sailing today and the seas have been fine. Swell was around 1.5m this morning and now 1m. Even though it was a good day, I still got sea sick this morning as we were rolling quite a bit. The roll just does my head in and no matter what I do, I can't seem to not be affected by it. This afternoon I felt a lot better and at present, feel ok enough to be downstairs writing this blog. When I am seasick though, I hate the boat and Neil and just want to get off, so the roll will stop. It is the worst feeling.

Today, we poled out our headsail and did downwind sailing and our pole is back to working again. We have also used our gennaker and we are thinking of keeping it up tonight, as the winds are very light and Bob the weather guru sent me an email saying that is should stay that way over night. We don't often keep up the gennaker, as to take it down it involves two people and also Neil on the deck. It is also hard to see to untie everything in the dark. We are trying to get to Minerva Reef by sundown tomorrow night and so we will access at midnight how we are going and decide how much motoring we may need to do to increase our boat speed so we can be safely through the reef before dark tomorrow night.

I am quite excited to get to Minerva, as it sounds a fascinating place to visit. A circular reef atoll with no islands in the middle of the ocean. There are two reefs, Minerva North and Minerva South. Most people stop at Minerva North as it has the easiest pass to enter and is a better anchorage. At low tide there is even a beach on the SW reef you can walk on. There is a small front going over Minerva on Saturday/Sunday, which will bring some rain, but nothing major. Once we get there we will reassess the weather to work out our strategy on when to leave. I am hoping for a good big high and encouraging weather information from Bob. We will be with friends (Marganzie, Lionheart, Omweg and Lufi) who will arrive just ahead of us.

Today, I did my radio checkins firstly with the Magellan Net on frequency 8122 at 9am and 17:30pm and with Peter Mott again on Northland Radio in New Zealand at 20:45pm on channel 1207. I am also updating our position with YIT (Yachts in Transit) website (Golf Harbour Radio New Zealand). I simply have to send an email with our details and they update our information. Most of the people we know going to NZ are using the YIT service and it is free. A good way for family and friends also to see your progress, if you do not have a blog or other GPS tracking service. Peter Mott volunteers his time to help cruisers keep in touch and for emergency service. The Magellan Net, originally started by Mark and Amanda on Balvenie, whom will also be crossing soon to NZ is run by volunteer cruisers who will take on a day as net controller position while sailing in the area. The Magellan Net has almost done a circumnavigation as Mark and Amanda after 12 years, will have completed their circumnavigation when they reach NZ. So much help for cruisers which is invaluable. You do need a satellite service and or an SSB radio while at sea. We have both and I love having them, as it is a means of me being able to communicate, get weather updates and feel a little safer knowing others have a record of our position on a daily basis. Nearly time for my fist night watch and we have been doing a 4 hour shift, then 4 hours off then a 2 hour shift, then 2 hours off and then it is daylight. So to end my blog our position is 22 degrees 37.106 minutes south and 177 degrees 03.687 minutes west. Our course is 243 True. We have a wind speed of 6 knots from the north and we have turned the engine on for a while to assist our gennaker, so our boat speed is 6.6 knots. We are trying to gain a few extra miles while calm, to enable us to get into Minerva before dark tomorrow. Cloud cover is minimal at present and all is well on board.