On Monday afternoon we cleared out at the Port of Lautoka in Fiji and spent the rest of the afternoon working to windward towards the main shipping channel through the outer reef. After a vivid sunset we discovered we would have some moonlight for at least half the night. We gained the channel but discovered one of the lazy jack cords holding up our mainsail bag needed re-stitching and there was a ship about to enter the narrow channel, so we turned landward and decided to anchor in Momi Bay to sort things out. Momi Bay was really protected and qualified as an allowable anchorage being part of Veti Levu (anchorage is forbidden in the outer islands of Fiji once outbound customs clearance is granted). Besides it sounded and looked a bit rough out there with the breaking waves visible in the moonlight breaking on the outer reef. Thanks Emma for your comment confirming our suspicions.
At first on light Tuesday we departed Momi Bay, with full main and genoa in the now lighter conditions, thanks to the overnight decoupling of wind and sea surface. The sea was running at about 2.5 metres and the wind filled to the predicted 20 knots which had us reefing twice then stowing the main altogether by 10am. The conditions were a bit lumpy but with the wind just aft of beam on, it was comfortable enough.
We have now covered 200 miles at 1700 Wednesday, with another 435 sea miles to go to the entrance of Havannah Passage. Today has been overcast with passing showers. Everything is shades of grey out here.
All is well onboard as we settle into our Swedish watch system.
Kathy and Wayne
At 13/09/2016 7:07 AM (utc) our position was 19°23'S 174°07'E
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