To Aitutaki
Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Sat 12 Oct 2013 22:57
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En Route to Aitutaki, The Cook Islands, New
Zealand
 Up came the anchor at ten past twelve,
me in position at the front and Bear on the wheel as we made our way across the lagoon to the pass.
 I had forgotten that I had to take the
decision on where to cross the coral and find the deeper water of the pass. Today flat calm. Mmmm.
 The six black
dots to our left were, Chris, Sascha, Skyla, Rourke and Layla
(Tribe) and Karl (Windarra), all of them bobbed up from wreck
snorkeling to wave us off.
 Becky, Sofia and
Blake (Windarra) waved heartily from their waiting dinghy. The
Pacific Ocean looked like a duck pond.
  No wind, so motor-sailing. Bear brought in the unsuccessful fishing line and a big chap settled to sleep with us. He tucked himself
under the shroud because he wanted to be as far away from the big white thing
that moved every so often. Miles in first twenty four hours = one hundred and
fourteen, point seven.
 The second day at eleven off went the
lure. A handsome mahi mahi provided us with eighteen
steaks and a lump near the tail end for a curry when we get in.
 The greedy so-and-so ate one too many. The last one had our hook
attached..........
 A quiet night.
 A quiet day and
night, winds from two to ten knots, coming from all over the place,
motor-sailing continues, hang on, a little wind, engine off. Second day mileage
= one hundred and twenty, point three miles, no new records set
then...........
 A day and a
night sailing proper and we achieve one hundred and twenty, point three
miles. Still no records in light winds.
 I get up at ten to an unbelievably blue ocean.
 Land Ahoy.
Time to change flags.
  Not a moment too soon for the poorly looking French flag. Up goes
Cook Islands and
quarantine.
  Aitutaki ‘grows’ as we get closer.
 Engine on, sails away. Bear lines up
for the pass, all forty feet wide, as I go to Beez
nose to point the way in.
 We make it to this
marker on our left and boomp, nadda, no further, zero below us. Nothing
for it but to wait for the rising tide.
 Looking out beyond
the pass to the reef.
  A warning NOT to
get it wrong and we watch a couple of chaps
fly-fishing for the next hour, until we float once again.
 Our view to the
right.
 Simply
beautiful.
 Less ‘tall’ than other
islands.
 Our target. To get beyond the catamaran and anchor beside the
yacht.
 Anchored at 14:15,
between a French motor cruiser and an Australian yacht – who did pop over
and say “G’day Mate.”
  More amusing when seen on the chart plotter.
ALL IN ALL A PEACEFUL JOURNEY
WITH AN EXCITING ENDING
VERY TRANQUIL IN KIND SEAS, BUMPY
ENDING |