Nancy will write more about our time in Bora Bora. Time is marching on and for the first time we are feeling squeezed as we need to be out of the South Pacific Cyclone Zone before Dec 1st. We decided to sail to American Samoa by way of the small island Suwarrow instead of sailing the southern route to Tonga via the Cook Islands and Niue. The weather may be somewhat less violent the further north you sail and we need to provision the boat again for the final few months. We have been changing our minds frequently about where to be during cyclone season and after much thought and discussion we decided to head for New Zealand despite the anxiety we have about the passage from Tonga to NZ in November. By reputation that can be a bruiser but fortunately it doesn't happen to often. We do have a sea anchor so we do feel that we can bail out and take a rest using the anchor if the conditions become too trying.

We left Bora Bora about a week ago knowing that the weather would be settled but with little wind. We left on a gorgeous day and broad reached with 15 knots into the darkness of night. That's when the wind died down and we slowed down to 2 to 3 knots of boat speed. The wind was maybe 6 to 7 knots and the sails had a hard time staying full. Fortunately there wasn't too much swell. In the past when we have had little or no wind we have put on the engine but when you are in the middle of the Pacific you can't motor the whole way and having fuel is like having money in the bank. We could be a sea for months and would be safe and comfortable as long as we had enough diesel to generate electricity and make fresh water. So we meandered all night long. We only made about 80 miles that day and the next day was similarly slow. As time passed the wind gradually increased and soon we were flying our spinnaker for the majority of the days. At night we felt more comfortable without the kite up but the weather was settled and it seemed like a very pleasant passage, that is, until the generator stopped working! It just stopped generating power. The engine itself was fine. By the time we had it running again we had replaced several fuses and the Voltage Regulation Circuit Board (which fortunately we had a spare for at 555 dollars. It's F*ing expensive!). The next day the generator finked out again and we were relieved to find that the 30 amp fuses (2) had blownÂ... we had replacements for them. Now we are down to our last fuses and are running the generator at half load. Until we get to Am Samoa we don't have access to replacements.

We arrived in Suwarrow Island NZ yesterday and it is a paradise. It is the paradigm of a Pacific Island with desolation, beauty, color, wildlife and friendly congenial cruisers. We have about 8 boats anchored in this idyllic anchorage behind a palm tree laden island with a white sandy beach. The lagoon is replete with sharks that cruise around as if they own the place. These sharks are blacked tip reef sharks and don't seem to be interested in eating or nibbling on swimmers so we try to alay our fears and snorkel. Today we got up early and met all of the other cruisers to snorkel on the manta ray cleaning station. We all got into the water and watched a 15 feet wide manta ray do lazy circles as small fish busily cleaned his skin. We only saw one shark who was maybe 40 yards away lazily swam past us paying us no mind.

Today there will be a get together on the beach for sundowners with the other cruisers. Sometimes there are potluck dinners where the resident rangers bring fresh fish and coconut crabs and the cruisers bring the other dishes. This is finally the epitome of Pacific cruising and until we get to American Samoa we expect to have full days enjoying our location and friends. We expect to be here somewhat less than 14 days and then on to Am Samoa about 430 miles west maybe 3 to 4 days.

We have some pretty good photos but no way to post them until our next port.

From the Crew of Always Saturday