20/09/2009 0518UTC 17 40.828S 177 23.159E Day 831 Up at 0630, 23C, Clear, Wind Calm.

[Above, 3rd Mate and her friend Coco from s/v Coco Kai.]

[To read our book, Family Voyaging - Ak to nZ, and receive personal voyage planning assistance (VIP Service) go to the Family Voyaging website at www.familyvoyaging.com.]

In less than twenty-four hours, 3rd Mate has a new best pal. It's amazing how quickly cruising kids, and their families, make friends. The nature of our lives dictates a compressed period of getting to know one another. Yesterday morning we first met Greg, Jen and Coco via VHF radio when their vessel, s/v Coco Kai, passed by the marina on the way to Lautoka for check-in. They'd arrived from Tonga. This morning we were waiting at the dock as Coco Kai pulled into Vuda Point Marina and we helped them tie up. Ten year old Coco immediately got off the boat and greeted Grace face-to-face. They swiftly left to explore the area and were holding hands and giggling within, no kidding, just 3m of sidewalk. All day they've been inseparable.

For 1st Mate and I -- who also saw the bulk of our closest friends shove off yesterday -- Greg and Jen have already offered their friendship. They invited us to dinner, which we accepted and plan to savor following a couple of hours together listening to the Sunday afternoon live music session at the yacht club. Try to picture this kind of fast-track relationship developing inside the confines of customary, daily American or European life. It more than likely wouldn't.

"Crew Quarters"

1st Mate: [Visiting with our new friends.]

2nd Mate: Wildlife seen today: least tern, black surgeonfish, squaretail mullet, crowned urchin, rock crab.

Woke up around 0600. Today was pretty basic compared to other days. I love it out here in paradise where we live by no schedule, no rules, and, ultimately, the unofficial Kiwi national motto: no worries. We didn't do a whole lot today. Grace and I washed the dishes and watched TV. She played with a new friend on the boat Coco Kai, and we all went up to the pool to cool off. I came back and read before played on my DS.

We're not really working ourselves into a rut, though. We do different things each day, and we enjoy it when we can visit other places or meet new people. We are planning to start up school again next month, using some workbooks Mom found in town and help from one of our former teachers in Juneau. This should help us to keep on track for when we start real school in New Zealand sometime early next year. That'll be really fun as we can then meet many new friends. However, until then, we're enjoying making snap, impulsive decisions whenever we feel like it. We plan to watch 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade' tonight as our family movie, if there's time after dinner on Coco Kai.

Today's Fijian word: mataqali = extended family or landowning group.

3rd Mate: [Playing with Coco.]