Tonga to New Zealand

We are into day 4 of our passage. The conditions to begin with were not so great, 2.5 to 3.5 Meter swell, at 8 second intervals, with wind waves and 15 to 20 knots of wind. The four of us went through many packages of crackers in order to keep our stomachs settled (Glen and I just ate crackers because we were hungry). Yesterday and today, today especially, was/is beautiful. Currently we are running at 1502 RPM, getting speeds of 9 knots on the most fantastically smooth ocean water we have ever seen in the wide open. Granted the swell is still about 2 Meters, but the interval is about 12 seconds and the wind speed is 3 knots so the water is smooth, like driving over a gently rolling prairie. Perfect conditions for we power boaters, but not so great for our sail boat friends. We have roughly 36 more hours to go and we hope that this weather stays with us all the way. I've had to dig out my jeans though, as the farther south we go, the lower the temperature gets. Evening temps have been 17 degrees and day time has been 20 degrees. It is still just spring in the southern hemisphere.

We are stuffing ourselves as best we can with meat (and of course other things) as our freezers are still very well stocked and the New Zealand Customs will not allow fresh/frozen meats, vegis and numerous other types of food into the country. We will literally roll off the boat onto the dock for inspection. We also have a fair quantity of alcohol to declare (over personal limits by a lot - even with four of us) so we may have to have a binge drinking session prior to docking and in that case, we won't care if we roll, bounce or slide in, will we.

Our current position is 30.02.627 S and 178.21.308 W and and we have run out of satellite service on both our KVH and Iridium. So no emails and no weather reports. It is rather disconcerting to be so, so, isolated. Hopefully by tomorrow we will have some service again. We're just hoping that the navigation satellites have coverage way down here, or we may have to dust off our charts and manual navigation tools. (Now which compartment did I put those in for safe keeping?)

So a reflection on our season spent in French Polynesia, Cook Islands, Samoa and Tonga. It has been amazing to view these countries and their cultures from the street/sea as it is so different from visiting via resorts. Each country's landscape is different from the next and each is awesome in it's own right. All of the people have been interesting. The Samoans and Tongans are the most friendly and generous people we have met to date, everybody says Hello to everybody. The last time I was home to Calgary, I found myself greeting strangers on the street in the same way, only to be stared at like I had lost my mind! We North Americans could use a friendliness refresher course. We only met Api and James from Suwarrow in the Cook Islands, but if they are representative of their countrymen, then the Cook Islands rate right up there too. Now we are on to our next adventure in New Zealand.

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