Phew, thank goodness we’ve arrived!

Viridian
Wed 26 Jul 2023 00:27
We arrived in Rarotonga at midnight. It had been an arduous passage with winds slightly above our comfort level for much of the time.
We couldn’t get updates on weather because the iridium phone failed. The autohelm also failed so we had to hand steer for the last 200 miles and then for the final 160nm the wind switched to the West so it was on the nose.
We weren’t encouraged to love it here, because on our arrival just after we had managed to negotiate the narrow entrance in the reef and moored we were told that we weren’t allowed to enter the harbour at night and unless we left immediately we would be fined $10,000! Oh how we all laughed as we motored out into the darkness of the ocean…
Anyway, we are now safely back in the harbour; cleared in and exploring. So far first impressions are good…because it’s less than half the price of French Polynesia! 👍😊