Still Waiting ….
06 May 2017 | Opua, Bay of Islands, NZ
Cyclone Donna continues to make a mess of Vanuatu and is now heading to New Caledonia. From there it is forecast to move SE bringing it back towards our rhumbline course to Fiji. The end result is that we stay put and wait until we see that the storm and the sea-state it leaves behind is gone. While it was an easy decision for us to sit tight, it was amazing how many of the cruisers decided there was no reason to wait and they left for the islands. Today we heard that one of them was reporting 35kt winds gusting to 60kts with 5 meter seas. They lost their bimini top. And they are still 400nm from arriving in Fiji (its a 1200nm passage from NZ).
There are still a number of other cruisers (including those going on the ICA Rally to Tonga) that are still patiently waiting here in Opua Like many of these cruisers our To Do list is pretty much finished, but we continue to search for things to do while we sit and wait. We are taking advantage of the time that we have on our hands, and took a trip to Kerikeri for the Saturday Market and had friends (SV Wairua) over for dinner. Our friends Malcolm and Dina (SV Good as Gold) have arrived and will sail to Fiji with us. This is a way for them to experience a passage in a catamaran and see if they might want to change from a monohull to a cat. And a way for us to have additional hands for those night watches.
As of today Thursday will be the soonest that we leave - if the weather window opens for us….