Not so Tropical
Miss Molly 4
Bob & Peggy Wilkerson/Geoff & Merel Pettifer
Sat 3 Oct 2009 03:28
177:00.51W
Well we certainly know now that we are back at sea! Last night the winds picked up and we could sail for a few hours until we came into another weather system and got nothing but headwinds, although nothing over 15 kts. Engine back on and there we went - bashing and ploughing through the waves with lots of water on the decks and every now and then a big wash over the saloon windows. The cockpit however remains quite dry, which is wonderful. And that even without the side curtains up. All quite unforecasted, we thought we would have a milkrun to Minerva Reef.
Due to the pounding no fishing today, yesterday in calm weather we did not catch anything either. We are still in the process of regaining our sea legs, they are growing back as we speak. We are aiming to arrive at Minerva Reef tomorrow just before dusk, another 170 Nm to go from now. We have been in radio contact with Navara, who let us know that according to the forecast we may have to sit at Minerva for a week before we can catch a nice weather window to NZ. Not much to do there if the weather is shitty - even when the weather is nice there is nothing more than the coral ring around us to explore. Navara is leaving from Neiafu tomorrow and they should catch up with us at Minerva around Tuesday. Hope they can bring us some more onions & potatoes, items the market was low on before we left. And if not then we'll probably still have a hard time getting scurvy, knowing the foody reputation of The Mollies.
Well back to lookout duties under a near full moon. Hopefully we will be at Minerva when we send out our next report.
Cheers from The Mollies