Arrived Nuiatoputapu

The Adventures of the Good Ship Equinox
Cate and Chris Galloway
Fri 17 Jun 2011 04:11
Position at 1030 Tonga Time: 15.56.4827S 173.46.1742W
 
Hi All,
 
After a really pleasant passage we dropped anchor in the lagoon at Nuiatoputapu this morning - as we arrived as part of a group of about six yachts we played "Ride of the Valkyries" over the cockpit speakers at full roar to general approval of the massed yachts.
 
After arrival we set about re-reeving our two broken halyards in the mast. as usual when given the offer to grind me up the mast or to go up herself, Cate went aloft to run the mouse lines we use to lead the halyards through the sheaves (pulleys) in the mast. We cursed it as usual by saying "this should only take 20 minutes" - an hour and a quarter and many, may expletives later Cate finally returned to the deck, job done.
 
This afternoon we walked over to th windward side of the island and went for a walk on the reef - v.pleasant indeed. The kids enjoyed some hermit crab racing on the beach. On return we had a swim in the milky waters of the lagoon, and shortly we will head across to "Anna's Island" for sundowners with the mob.
 
Tomorrow we will explore some more of Nuiatoputapu, incuding the original village which was largely destroyed in the 2009 tsunami which struck on some of the islands hereabouts, including Samoa, which is only 150nm away.
 
Anyway, it will be nice to get a decent night's sleep in a calm anchorage, esepcailly after the overnight passage to get here.
 
So, until tomorrow, TTFN