At Minerva Reef

Miss Molly 4
Bob & Peggy Wilkerson/Geoff & Merel Pettifer
Sun 4 Oct 2009 07:00
23:37.91 S
178:53.76 W

At 17:00 this afternoon we went through the pass at North Minerva Reef. It was a lovely day today, better than yesterday when it was so cold we doubted we were still in Tonga. The SE winds were too light to get us inside the reef before dark, so we had to motorsail to make it in time.

Inside the reef were 2 other sailboats and a small trawler. None of them seem to have their dinghies in the water so there has not been much interaction between the boats. Miss Molly got her well deserved fresh water washdown - she was covered in a spray of salt. Lovely to be at anchor and horizontal after a few days in the gimballed world.

According to the forecast it looks like we will have to wait for the next weather window to get down to New Zealand. That may mean staying here till Tuesday or beyond. We'll see what happens and we'll keep you posted.

You should try to zoom in on our position on the Google Earth map to see what a marvellous place this is. Great yachtclub, bars, restaurants, chandlery and a supermarket up to NZ standard - yeah right! Still nice to be able to anchor mid-ocean!

Cheers from
Geoff, Merel & James