Conni and I sat at this very table last year, and now I'm sitting with John and Phil. We're out on the veranda, sipping iced coffee and working on the Internet. How civilized!

The voyage from Fiji was not uneventful, with the last night being especially trying. In Fiji waters, the winds were nothing the last day and we motored that entire day and finally got out of Fiji. Tacking back and forth made for a laborious exit. Within an hour of entering the wide Pacific, we had sailing wind that continued to build and, amazingly, was in a usable direction. We sailed well, making our southing the entire time, then on that last night, Wednesday night, the wind reached 30 kt gusts and 10 ft seas, thoroughly unpleasant. We moved in double reefed main and jib and did well, but some hand steering was needed the last 10 hours. We reached almost into the Tonga channels before we started the engine. Hurray!

Conni usually handled the check-in process but she had prepared the paperwork and me very well and I made it with few difficulties. We only had to give away one beer to officials.

We motored to a mooring and spent a very restful night, and a much needed restful night. For dinner we motored with the dinghy to the Aquarium Bar and I consumed a wonderful burger: one gets fantasies about hamburgers on passages,or I do.

Everyone did very well. John and Phil learned a lot of sail handling and steering. They can set most of the wind vane steering adjustments.

Funny..we would have bathed at the Moorings showers last night, but they lost the damned key. No kidding. We spent one last night of slimy smelliness on dirty sheets, but bathed this morning and we'll have clean laundry by this afternoon.

Neiafu is a lovely place with an expat (expatriate) community from everywhere. The Aquarium owners hail from SoCal in the US, there are some Kiwis and Aussies, too. It's an interesting and diverse group, all of whom moved here for a slower pace of life. Neiafu is a very religious place, as is all Tonga, since the missionaries arrived early and destroyed the local culture in their well-meaning efforts at conversion. Wesleyan first, then Catholic, Mormon, and Seventh Day Adventist followed, gathering souls as they could.

We plan to leave on Monday, but weather dictates travel. More later.