18:29.90S

173:56.9W

Finally we caught a fish.  And what a fish!!  A 40 kilo big eye tuna.  It was quite a sight watching the crew land and filet the fish on the back deck while it was gusting 25 knots, and we were rolling over big waves at 8 plus knots.  This thing was huge.  We filled 4 big zip lock bags and cooked much for an early dinner.  The sun then came out for the first time all day and the wind went more south, (permitting us to lay our course directly (which means head straight for it), and we settled into a beautiful end of this leg.

All the fish have been caught using the same lure, even though it has been mangled by each victim.

At 6:14pm we crossed the international dateline and suitably celebrated the jump from Wednesday night to Thursday night with a gift of a little beer to the ocean.  (It is now 4am Friday morning for us, but 11am Thursday morning in Toronto).

We have now arrived at our first Tonga waypoint which is set 3 miles off the coast.  We now have to slow down as we go along the coast, so we enter the narrow estuary we are aiming at 20 miles away; when it is light in about 3 hours.

Yesterday evening’s sail was beautiful; small waves, 17 knots wind, 8-9 knots of boat speed amidst a setting sun.  This is what we come out here for.

It is good we are getting in early, on Friday, ecause customs and immigratin are closed on weekends. If you arrive at that time, you must remain on your boat until they reopen on Monday.  Tough on crew morale to be tied up and not being able to get off because you are still in quarantine.  Incidentally, when one arrives, one must fly the yellow quarantine flag until checked in,so everyone knows you may be diseased.

babaelfish