It was great to have Gordon and Claire on board with us and we had a busy but enjoyable time with them. We motored to Port Maurelle and dinghied to the Swallow cave where we found a huge shoal of fish hiding from predators. The sun was shining into the cave and the water so clear, it made a pretty sight. A peaceful night at anchor and then we made our way to the anchorage near the coral gardens, but it was a lee shore with swell coming in so a change of plan and then off to the anchorage off Matameka village. All was peaceful to start, we swam, paddled and kayaked, and walked through the pretty little village. The wind was gusting a bit but still to the northeast so we were okay, but in the early hours of the morning it swung to the northwest and increased. We had plenty chain out but the two charter boats behind us had very little and before long we were pretty close to them. We started the engine and kept the boat moving forward a bit hoping the squall would move ove r soon, but then the snubber broke. Knowing that rising the anchor would be too difficult, Neil let all the chain and rope into the water, and we motored off, leaving it there. We had two fenders tied to it so we were pretty confident we could recover it. We found shelter behind the lee of a little island and hovered there until the wind and swell settled and then made our way back to Matameka anchorage. Anders from the yacht Freja came by to assist with his dinghy and three other young yachtsman from another yacht also helped, free diving in 20 metres to recover the chain. Claire and I remained on the yacht motoring around in circles until all the chain and the anchor was on the dinghy and then Neil used the windlass to pull it back on board. We are so grateful for all the help we received from Anders and from the young men. After that we motored back to the coral garden anchorage and did a bit of snorkelling there, with only Neil managing to get through the waves to the reef on the other side. The next day we were on a whale tour boat hunting for whales with little luck until late in the afternoon when we were so incredibly fortunate to be swimming with a mother and calf. The mother was very slowly making her way to the surface while the baby was swimming down to the mother and then up to the surface numerous times. And we were so close that when the mother finally surfaced I thought we were going to be whacked by her tail! She must have been at least 45 feet long, and the calf a third of her size. It was my best experience in the water, and surpassed snorkelling with giant manta rays, my previous favourite. We had one more day at the anchorage off Tapana island and a snorkel to find manta rays (no luck unfortunately) and then back to Neiafu so that Gordon and Claire could catch their flight in the morning. Thank you Gordon and Claire for being such accommodating guests, and for treating us to a couple of dinners ashore! The last couple of days we have been busy with passage preparations, as the weather is looking good to sail to Minerva reef and then onward to NZ. In between all the laundry, cooking, topping up of water and diesel, we have been attending some of the Blue Water festival functions, so all has been pretty busy. We are all ready now and will be clearing our first thing tomorrow morning. Our passage to Minerva reef should take us three days with a Sunday morning arrival. If all is looking good we may skip Minerva and head straight to NZ.