Anyone got an umbrella?
04 September 2019 | Nuapapu - North and South
Grace
Position: 18.43.18S, 174.06.1W
After saying a sad goodbye to Charlie and Fergus we were back to just the two of us again. Stephen was distracted by problems with the electronics - we now seemed to be in a position where the main display for all our nav systems wasn't picking up anything. That meant we couldn't get a GPS position on charts and probably that the autopilot would not work again! It didn't bode well for a potential 2 handed sail from Vava'u to Fiji in a couple of weeks. After some helpful advice from fellow yachties - in effect stop trying to take short cuts, but go through all the electrics systematically and methodically, we found a series of less than perfect connections and it all seems to be working again. It was not the software or hardware issue that he had feared! With a bit more provisioning done we decided to set out for one of the pretty local anchorages before the bad weather was due to set in the following day. Luckily for us we arrived to find a local Tongan feast had already been organised on the beach for that evening. Love Child came to join us along with four other boats. Fabbi brought his guitar, Stephen his Ukele (thankfully one of the locals took that over), and we enjoyed a really delicious meal including a suckling pig spit roasted, and many other Tongan dishes. Unfortunately the wind got up as predicted during the night and although we didn't drag it wasn't the most comfortable of nights. The following day we motored to the other side of the bay, following Love Child's early departure (they were dragging anchors) and we went all of three miles to a more sheltered spot. Thank goodness we did as that night we had ab out 3�" of rain and big gusts of wind. We were very cosy after a delicious curry on Love Child (not a major contributor to the wind gusts) and enjoyed a peaceful night after a walk through the island. This morning saw little activity on Water Music. We managed a snorkel over a vibrant coral reef and then motored back to the spot from 2 nights ago as the wind has swung right round and we will be more protected. We are assured that this weather front will be through tomorrow and so are hoping for a better weekend of weather.