On to Taveuni

 Stardate Oct 4, 2023

Tried to raise the anchor - crap, caught on coral.  Put the snubber back on and took a few runs at it.  You could feel the boat jump when it let go.  Very little wind, so I ran the main all the way up in preparation for the short ten mile jump to Taveuni.  

The wind coming out of Viani was all over the placer.  The wind vane at the masthead was spinning.  I tried once to open the jib - hah!  It got about five feet out, flopped the other way, then flopped back.  Back in it went.  Even Nick had to motorsail across.

As we approached the shore, the wind *intensified.*. We were supposed to have shelter against the lee shore.  Well that didn't happen.  Anchored in 48 feet on sand.  By the time the chain let out I was close to Nick.  We decided it was ok.  Went below.  Came up a hour or so later and our boats were close enough we could talk!  Nick opined that there must be current here because the boats weren't swinging on the anchor rode the same direction.  I dropped the dinghy and picked Nick up and we re-positioned Peregrine.  

Then we went exploring the shore for a landing site.   Every promising place was crazy with coral.  We weren't sure at what stage the tide was (it looked to be low) so we decided to wait until tomorrow to get serious about going ashore.

Back to Nick's boat for beers.  The wind picked up - Nick was reading 35 knots at times.  Crazy.

**************

Stardate Oct 5, 2023

What a night!  Rolling and rocking like Waya Bay.  Anchor Sentry track has me all over the map.  Something seemed to go wrong with the app about 3 am so I bought another copy for my phone.  That one showed Nick practically on top of me.  Shut it off, will check later.  Had to go topside twice to secure stuff from banging.  The glassware in the cupboard was clinking all night.

It's 8:30 and I don't know if we're going to get off the boats today with this wind.  So much for 'shelter from the storm.'  

Happiness is a good anchor set.


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