25 October 2011

I've been trying to work out why I am not enjoying this passage quite as much as previous passages. I normally love being at sea, but I've just realised. We've always had crew with us for longer journeys and those extra four hours a night? They make a difference, let me tell you! Normally, skipping a few islands on the way wouldn't bother us as we actually prefer longer stretches, but now I realise why everyone responded with a "New Zealand? Really? But you're so late in the season." We're actually not late in the season for getting there; I don't think the other boats will have left by the time we get to Tonga, but we can't really stop off anywhere on the way unless we were to stay a week or so. Firstly, Mark and I find it impossible to stay one night only in an anchorage. It just can't be done. By us. Secondly, it's a whole other country we'd be checking into, which involves cost, customs, border control. Which is a whole load of fuss when you only want to catch up on a snooze for 24 hours. Thirdly, people are so friendly here in the Pacific that in these smaller islands it would be considered an offense to only stay a night when their hospitality is so huge.
So, we'll just press on. It's good to know that we could drop into these islands if we needed to, but this season we'll be passing them by, and we'll come back to them next season. So yes, we're late in the season for cruising through the Pacific but not to get to NZ. We even toyed with the idea of skipping Tonga and pressing on to NZ, but I think we really would be wise to stop by Tonga, re-provision and wait for a good weather window. So, we have about 8 days to go. Dig deep, dig deep! Curr Pos: 17.43S 158.31W