The joy of acomplishment 18:31S 174:01 W
Salsa af Stavsnas
Ellinor Ristoff Staffan Ehde
Thu 3 Oct 2013 15:49
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It is easy to forget to mention, because we have
done it so many times by now.
The joy of geting there.
The strangest feeling is that of tranquility, right
now we are moving at 2-3 knots, north of the island of Vavau.
Waiting for dawn to break. The sky is not dark
anynmore, has a dark greysh character now.
Coming to the north of Vavau means also that
suddenly the swell is gone, just a small breeze of air. Salsa is calm after
plowing her 17 tons through the ocean. She is an amazing ship, much faster now
than what she used to be. We are seldom under 6 knots, most of the time 7-8.
Must have learned something underway...But now she is calm and moving a little
bit from side to side as I can see the coastline unwrapping in front of my
eyes.
Vavau is a tricky entrance with narrow passages and
on the chart there is a warning about fishing equipment laid out without any
lights or buoys.
As I write the sky is going rapidly towards lighter
grey, there is a cover of clouds and some holes in them where you can sense dots
of lighter sky.
As of now we did not only travel in space but also
in time. As we approach Tonga we will move our dates one day forward, skipping
the 3rd of October, thank god nobody on board has a birthday that day. You might
wonder why this happens at 174 West and not at 180. Tonga has decided it wants
to be with their neighbours New Zealand and Fiji on the same day. I think that
meant they where the first to experience the new milenium...
Anyway, for you at home this means that after being
BEHIND you in time, we will now be BEFORE you. HA!
Light comes really fast here, now I can see land
like a silouette and the small waves on the water are visible.
I had a cup of coffee, home made thick yougurth
with small bananas and home made muessli. Feels good in my stomach. Should brush
my teeth now.
Soon the first child will pop up the head in the
cockpit and ask " are we there now?" Especially if I start the
engine.
This trip has been great, gentle low waves made
life on board easy. The wind has been around 14 knots from the side giving Salsa
good speed.
The only thing waiting now that is less funny, is
that the last thing that happened when we left Nuie is that the windlass broke.
The engine runs freely without pulling any anchorchain.
As luck will have it, there should be plenty of
moorings here so we have to grab one and then start pulling the machinery
apart....
Well it's a boat you
know!
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