Still waiting...

Scott-Free’s blog
Steve & Chris
Sun 24 May 2015 04:00

35:18.838S 174:07.29E

 

Sunday 24th May 2015

 

Well here we still are in Opua, waiting for a decent weather window to leave and head for Fiji.  We almost left last Monday, and in readiness we moved into the marina to use the water and electricity to make sure we are well topped up and to make a final shopping trip without worrying if we will be able to get the dinghy in the water!  Steve and Bear went down to Auckland in the car to deliver it to Mike the previous Wednesday, and that all went very smoothly.  Feels strange not being able to hop into the car and pop into town whenever we want, but there is a car here that we can borrow if not in use by other yachties, so we can still get groceries. 

 

So we got ourselves all ready last weekend, and then the forecast changed at the last minute and we decided to wait.  So here we are, a week later in exactly the same situation with weather that is so unsettled that the forecast changes not just on a daily basis but sometimes from morning to evening!  The current plan is to go on Tuesday, but if the current low passes through more quickly than forecast, we may go tomorrow.  At the moment it’s looking like 40 knot winds and very rough seas in the coastal waters of Brett tomorrow – not the sort of conditions we particularly want after doing next to no sailing for the last 18 months!  Sea legs? What are they?!!

 

Anyway, it’s been nice just passing time with friends while we wait.  But winter is creeping closer here and the temperatures now demand long trousers and socks!  The hats, gloves and scarves are out ready for the first three or four days of the passage, until we get far enough north for it to warm up a bit.  Apparently it’s 30 degrees in Fiji at the moment...