Position: 23:37.70S 178:53.81W
Thursday 7th November

We are now safely anchored inside Minerva reef. After checking the latest weather it was not looking ideal right now for the rest of the passage south to New Zealand so I decided to go ahead and pull in for a mid ocean pit-stop here.

Minerva reef is a circular shaped reef with a deeper lagoon in the middle but no real land other than a few small rocks that stick out at low tide. The outer reef protects us from the ocean waves now that we are anchored inside. It seems a little strange to be anchored up in the middle of the ocean with no land in sight. There are a few other cruising boats to keep us company in here who are probably also waiting for some better weather.

We had some mixed winds the last day or two with some fast reaching under the genoa and full main in 15 knots of wind and some more light winds with waves that made it tricky to keep the sails full. It has been quite wet and rainy today. Sea Monkey handled everything great as always though. Now we are resting and slowly drying out a bit. Will keep an eye on the weather over the next few days ready to continue on when it looks good for the voyage south.

Phil