Yep, we depart for the hard upwind slog back to French Polynesia, Bora Bora, in particular. Conni says that we'll have some lumpy weather with 20 knots on the bow for a few days: not our favorite. It means that we'll be tacking a lot and losing ground toward our target, but it's not to be helped.

Conni, as captain, will do the honors of paying dues and signing forms, and I'll stay behind and prepare the boat for the journey. We've loaded provisions and fuel, and I've got only 5 more gallons to haul to the boat. Sheesh! We'll jockey around to another quay for filling our water tanks, too, before leaving. We hope to have everything completed by early tomorrow afternoon.

We fetched Julia, so we're ready for the crossing by crew, too.

Yesterday, as we were walking along in Avarua near the government offices, a nicely dressed gentleman began to walk beside us and we greeted him, "Kia Orana", and he began a nice conversation, asking, as people will do, where we're from and such. As we told him that we planned on an around-the-island bus trip today, he offered to take us himself. We agreed. He provided his business card, and it was none other than the New Zealand High Commissioner to Cook Islands, Peter Marshall! Wow! Astounding. We did show up and he did take us on a round-island tour and answered questions that we would not have had answered.

I did post a page on the site with photos of His Excellency, and some other sights.

Wish us luck.