On our way again 18:57S 170:40

Salsa af Stavsnas
Ellinor Ristoff Staffan Ehde
Wed 2 Oct 2013 07:29
Lovely Nuie lost us today. A terrible night with a swell that was buildng up made the stay on the boat extremely uncomfortable.
Looking at the forecast made the descision easy to make. We would get descent winds and a very calm sea if we started today.
So off we went and since the crane still did not work we had to an anchor to keep the dinghy away from the dock where the waves where moving up and down 2 meters. Very exciting! But they are so helpful on Nuie, and especially Nuie yachtclub! Keith heard us ask Nuie radio this morning if it was possible to land with the dinghy and that we wanted to clear out with customs and imigration. So Keith who thought that we needed to make the shortest landfall possible came down to the dock with his van. Drove us to the office of the customs/imigration- to save time. Then he took off to take some school photos while the authorities stamped and stamped. One of the customs officers took an old truck and put us in the back on the platform. Drove us back to the yachtclub. There we checked out with them and took the bikes to the supermarket. Since we will get visitors from Sweden we had to provision before getting to Tonga where most food is hard to come by except for fruit and vegetables (and eggs).
At the supermarket (wich really does not look like one) Keith showed up and took all the food in the van and we took the bikes to the dock.
There he picked us up and drove us to the goverment liquor store, yes they have the same system as in Sweden! But one thing is better in Nuie, when you have checked out and leave the country you can buy it duty free!
Then the adventure started to load the dinghy while it was moving up and down 2 meters and sideways 4 meters!
Nobody fell in today...
We where back in the boat by noon! Thanks to Keith!
Then we needed lunch and 2 hours to get ship shape.
We have a very gentle trip so far, nice wind and nice swell (better than at anchor).
This would be our last leg westward in the southern Pacific.
Next time we head somewhere will be southbound to NZ.
But before that we shall experience the Kingdom of Tonga for a month!