Our plan to get an early start for the 50nm from Great Mercury to Rotoroa were fouled yesterday (Fri, 01FEB) morning when Markus' watchband was snagged by a line and went overboard while we were lifting up the dinghy on deck. Out came the snorkel gear again, and in we went to scan the bottom beneath Namani. Somehow the water always feels a lot colder in the morning... Luckily we were anchored in only about 4 meters of water.

Eventually, Nana did find the watch and we weighed anchor around 07:30. The wind was meager at first but then build to a solid 25kn by the time we reached Cape Colville. It dropped a bit again inside the Gulf but overall we made good progress and dropped anchor off Rotoroa Island at 16:30. While we were the only sailboat coming across the Gulf yesterday (what a change to the days before and after Christmas!) we no longer have the luxury of being the only boat in the anchorage (as we had at Great Mercury). There's quite a few boats here and we reckon this will also be the case at Motuihe, where we plan to go this afternoon. The watch will stay below deck this time...