After three wonderful days at North Minerva Reef, we headed out the pass just before sunset yesterday, aiming for a waypoint just outside of Navula Pass, Fiji, about 400 miles away.

On our last day at Minerva, we took the day off from boat work and spent time with friends walking on the fringing reef and snorkeling. It was so amazing to be walking on the submerged reef, looking out and seeing nothing but water in every direction.

I had Eric haul me up the mast with a couple of cameras, so I could take pictures of the view from 70' up. It was, in fact, spectacular!

The water is extremely clear, and at 77F almost Vandy-approved temperature. Tropical weenies that we are, we both wore wetsuits. We snorkeled around the wreck of an old ship for awhile, and then some nearby coral heads, where we saw a good variety of tropical fish. I wondered how the ancestors of these little guys found their way to North Minerva, hundreds of miles from other reefs.

We left Minerva before the predicted wind had arrived, relying on Yanmar the Magnificent to make some miles toward Fiji, where we need to arrive by Friday morning to clear in with customs. Today, the wind eventually filled in a bit, from mostly behind us, where it is forecast to stay for most of our trip to Fiji. At the moment we're flying our Code 0 and Genoa wing-on-wing, making 7 knots in about 14 knots of wind. Flying just the headsails makes for a quiet and comfortable downwind ride.

Our current position is 22 09'S 179 41'W. We'll be crossing the Date Line again in a little while. If it's still light outside, I'll look for the dashed line...