On the way to Fiji
Gudrun V
Axel Busch
Sun 23 Sep 2012 21:17
Just left Niue for Fiji in light winds form the SE and old swell from SW. Originally I wanted to leave on Friday, but couldn't get hold of customs to check out. Friday the plane from Auckland (the only plane all week) arrives, and customs is busy at the airport all morning. They should be back for th yachties by three, but apparently they decided for an early weekend. I waited until five, then the immigration lady told me to come back Saturday. Island time :-)
Saturday checking out worked all right, but no wind. A little depression passed through south of the island and the wind turned 360 degrees, causing some uncomfortable swell in the bay from the west. Against this swell I'm sailing today, but it should be down by evening. But at the moment there's a lot of rolling and banging going on, my favorite sailing days ;-). At least the sun is out again. It was all rainy and overcast since Wednesday last week. The batteries are low and everything's a little damp, so the sun is definitely very welcome.
Weather forecast for the week looks quite nice, at least until Thursday. Light to moderate winds from the SE. Perfect if I still had my parasailor. With the gennaker I can not sail reasonably further downwind then 140 degrees apparent wind angle, so I'm going to do a lot of extra miles to Fiji. I had hoped to get there Friday, but as it is it's more likely to be Sunday.
I've read that they fine you 100$ in Fiji for checking in on Sunday. I've also read that I have to anchor and pick the officials up at the dock. Which won't work with my kayak, so I guess I'm going to be immensely popular right from the start. Hehe :-). But we "cross that bridge when we get there". Next waypoint: Vava'u (Tonga), 232nm