Thirty-second day out
01 June 2013 | 08 58.79'S:158 02.99'W, Penrhyn atoll
Kevin, Rick, Pauline, Sue and Peter
End of day 32 saw us with good winds, but bashing at a mean angle to the swell, with as much speed (7.5knts) as possible to make landfall at Penrhyn (lest the crew threaten mutiny!) We cleaned out all the fruit stores, chucked anything that talked back at us, and polished & shined everything else, so it would all look fine for the customs, agriculture & health officials. Doused all sail at 1425, 3nm out. Transitted the bar, Taruia Pass, at 1440, scary stuff and navigated our way through a web of coral atolls (some even marked with a stick), in an arc approx 220 degrees from the pass itself. Anchored in 40ft. Total of 1990 nm since Honolulu and 4325 nm since leaving Marina del Rey. The customs, agri & health officials came out to us and were most welcoming and friendly, just about turned into a party with them onboard! Paperwork complete, they were happy with everything, and happy for a chat. Gave the first half of our shore party a lift in, whilst the rest set the d ingy up and prayed the as-yet-untried outboard would work. It did! A quick tipple was contemplated, but the call of land was too strong! A quick walk around on wobbly legs to meet a few locals, quick visit to the shop (only to find we had more than what they did!) is all we had time for then back on board to crash and await the next morning, exhausted.