Saturday 14th  July South Pacific Ocean 20 11.4S  169 11.0E  

Today’s Blog by David (Time zone BST+10.00; UTC +11.00 )

Port Resolution  will always be a special place for us because it was from there – together with the crew of Glamorous Galah -  that we left the WorldARC this morning.

The official WorldARC party was on  Thursday, at which we were each given a commemorative plaque and then a group of people sang a  song that they had composed to the tune of “She’ll be coming round the mountain when she comes”. Caroline (Peat Smoke) appeared to be the ring-leader, aided and abetted by Shadow (Zoe), Willi (Mr Blues) Eve (Juba) and Andrea (Anastasia)  accompanied on the guitar by Phil (Anastasia).   Thanks guys – a great idea.

Given that we expected Thursday to be a “late night” and our passage plan required a “Sparrows’ “ departure, together with Glamorous Galah  we had decided to defer our departure until Saturday so we could do so with a clear head. Imagine our surprise when we learned that the crews of Anastasia, At Last,  Zoe, Mr Blues, Brizo, and Bronwyn had all also decided to stay behind in order to “say goodbye properly”.  And what a splendid night it was. A pot luck dinner (organised at the “yacht club” by Janet) washed down with warm beer from the village and what wine and other booze (I saw Vodka and Rum) crews still had left.

Because the fleet has been dislocated for much of the trip so far we haven’t had the opportunity to socialise with many of last night’s group for some time was truly glad of the opportunity to do so. It was an excellent evening; i haven’t had such a laugh in a long time. Simone will be very upset that she missed it!  So, will Bob - but at least he will have the opportunity to “say goodbye properly” in Port Vila.

So thanks guys, we will miss you all! Peter and I wish you all fair winds, flat seas and a wonderful future.  I do hope our paths will cross in the future.

A bientot!

PS           No pictures in this one to protect the innocent

PPS        ….AND we made our Sparrows’ departure this morning! Peter and I are on passage now to New Caledonia. The wind was forecast 18-20kts with gusts to 22 kts. Actual  conditions are much as last time, gusting to 30kts on the beam and with a big sea that has been building for days;  it is making life something of a roller coaster.

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Footnote

We have hitherto been sending blogs to both Serendipity’s Blog Page and also to the World ARC Blog. Now that we have left the rally, once we get to New Caledonia,  I expect World Cruising  to close their blog facility to Serendipity and our blogs will no longer be available there. 

If you have been following us on the World Cruising site and you want to continue to follow our progress (even if it is in the hope that we one day will be ship wrecked!) you will need to go to our Blog Page:

www.blog.mailasail.com/serendipity

And to find out where we are right now:

http://live.adventuretracking.com/serendipity