We are safely at anchor in Suva harbour Fiji, but only just! It was all going sooooo well and the onboard atmosphere was great - especially as the beer battered fish & chips was unanimously voted the best on board meal so far. So imagine the scene folks, it is pitch black with low lying reefs all around and a narrow entrance to the harbour (0.2 miles wide) - we are all looking forward to getting in but then the rain starts and the wind begins to build, as skipper I have my roving eyes everywhere and my (ample) gut feeling tells me to turn the boat around as things look a tad dicey. So the order goes on deck to turn around just as 39 knots (Storm force 8) hits the boat. Unfortunately the wind was blowing from the direction we now wanted to go, that is away from the land and its shallow dangers. Due to the strength of the wind, even with full throttle on the engine we were being blown backwards towards the reef. Fortunately the wind subsided a little to 30 knots allowing us to motor away from the danger at an Alonso rate of =BD mile an hour. Christiania was in her element a Force 7/8 and she handled everything beautifully, but being so close to shore had me slightly on edge. Also the crew were fantastic, all of them on deck and just getting on with what needed doing. Needless to say what we thought would be a 15 minute squall turned out to be a very worrying hour and a half! As the wind and rain subsided we decided to make a dash for the harbour before it picked up again, but would we succeed to enter a 0.2 mile wide passage in the pitch black of night, while all feeling over tired and a bit cold - of course we would but again only just! When we were in the middle of the narrow entrance and 100% committed, the engine decided to stop! Could I get it going again could I F@#*! So the highly tuned team on board pulled together got the sails up and we sailed into the harbour and dropped the anchor. I can't overestimate how well everyone performed turning a potential nasty situation into a safe and well executed piece of seamanship. As I have mentioned before, during my exams I had to sail into anchorage, but doing it during the day and with the luxury of an examiner on board is one thing, doing it in the dark (pitch black), in 20 knot winds, with no one to help you if you get it wrong is quite another, thankfully I had Mr A, Neil and Em on board thus making it sooooo much easier. The troops have gone to bed shattered and relieved and I'm left writing the blog with a large tot of the emergency whisky to calm my nerves. I think tonight has really bonded us as a crew and shown no matter what mother nature and Mr luck throw at us we can cope, and admirably so, well done again the Christiania team!