We're currently on passage from Nuie bound for Vava'u in Tonga. It's
240nm - so relatively short by Pacific standards, but still we're
having to work for it.
Nuie is a slighly odd island. One of the smallest nations in the
world, it is still feeling the effects of a 2005 cyclone. Many of the
islanders were evacuated to New Zealand at the time, and thousands
chose to stay. As we drove around the island, at least 1/2 the house
were desserted and in various states of disrepair. Also along the
roadside were hundreds of well-tended graves - including one chap who
dies in 1994 who fathered 23 children. So they keep busy.
The anchorage in Nuie is completely open to the west, and the wind -
albeit light - was due to back from North to South overnight. We
therefore left last night just after sunset. It was a quiet night of
gentle sailing and motoring, but today the wind has filled in from the
SW, and we're bashing into it. Considering there is no land to affect
the wind for hundreds of miles, it's amazing how variable and gusty
the wind can be. We hope that the wind will continue to back so that we
can ease the sheets, and we should arrive sometime tomorrow
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