Day 166: Tonga to Fiji – 21/06/10

Another day of doing, seeing and catching nothing.  The journey is less comfortable though, with lumpy waves, less well spaced out than yesterday.  They hit the boat in an irregular pattern, making it and therefore us, lurch uncomfortably.  Time after time I nearly go sprawling as I lose my balance.  Taking food out to the cockpit is especially interesting and mine nearly lands on the floor.

We make good speed though, averaging over 6 knots, and going up to just under 9 knots at times with just the genoas out.

At 11.16 (and 47 seconds) precisely, we cross into the eastern hemisphere for the first time in Jeannius’ life.  Although he is in bed at the time, I am told to get Mike up so that he can watch the position indicator on the chart plotter change from showing a westerly position of longitude to an easterly one.  He seems very excited about this, which is a good indication of just how bored you can get on these trips and how little it can take to get you going!

Mike and I seem to have changed sleeping patterns on this trip with me getting to sleep quite quickly and him sleeping less well.

Towards the end of the afternoon the wind steadily picks up and the waves get even bigger and more uncomfortable, but unbelievably, I don’t get sick.  It’s my turn to do two watches and we start to race along at a pretty constant 7.5 knots in 25 knots of wind still with just the genoas out.

Photo:  Nothing to photograph except sunsets, but they are glorious!

As the evening continues, land starts to appear on the radar (not to be confused with the large squalls which keep appearing and which seem to follow us although we manage to just keep out of their paths).  In the distance, and at the time Mike predicted, I can see the lights of Suva, the capital, and for the first time we see fishing vessels, lit up like Christmas trees, those lights obscuring their navigational lights so you have no idea which direction they are going and they are too small for the radar to pick up.  More vigilance than ever tonight, methinks!

 

Our position is:  18 deg 28 min S, 178 deg 31 min E

Distance so far:  8588 nautical miles