The joy of acomplishment 18:31S 174:01 W

Salsa af Stavsnas
Ellinor Ristoff Staffan Ehde
Thu 3 Oct 2013 15:49
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!