Fiji to New Caledonia - Day 4
22 October 2010 | Enroute to New Caledonia
Alison
Snippets: I awake at almost 5 am feeling downright rested and realize Allan has given me 7 hours to sleep! He said he felt fine -- watched some movies, ate some leftover pasta and had just begun to ponder waking me up when I came into the cockpit. As he settles into the bunk, I sit in the cool morning air with a bowl of fresh Fijian pineapple and survey the scene: the full moon is low on the western horizon, nestled amongst soft gray clouds, while the rising sun, obscured by the overcast, is softly lighting up the sky. The sea swells have moved a bit more to the stern, so Fly Aweigh is surfing down gentle waves now, much more comfortable than those wallops from the side that throw the boat into big figure 8's and wreak havoc on the inhabitants.
I miss my kitty, Max. I have a yen for Oatmeal Scones from Some Crust Bakery in Claremont, California, and a really good cup of coffee with half and half. I settle for ramen noodles.
The SSB radio is distorted by a loud hum today, some sort of electrical interference that I can't track down, so checking into the Penguin Net on 8104 this morning isn't possible. The Nets have been great on this trip across the Pacific; we're not really as involved as some people, because we have other ways of reporting our position daily (this blurb, for one; a daily position report via email to Micheal and Gloria on Paikea Mist, for another) but it's a comfort to have the Net there twice a day and hear how those headed for New Zealand are doing. We're the only boat on the Penguin Net right now that's headed west. Everyone else is southbound. It's a rather quiet Net with only about 6 boats participating right now, but we hear from Michael and Gloria, who are still in Tonga, that a pack of boats just left from Nuku'alofa, so things should get a little busier.
Lunchtime: ramen noodles. A little redundant, maybe, but good. The wind is moving behind us, the ride is getting uncomfortable again, and by 4pm we're considering sailing quite a bit father south to stay on a better angle, and then cutting up north toward the southern tip of the island. It adds a few hours, but that's life.
The day has gone by quickly, it seems. Two more days to go; at this point it looks like we'll get into Noumea after hours on Sunday and drop anchor, then move to the Visitor's Dock Monday morning for clearance. Until tomorrow ...