The diving on the reef was worth it.
Dunno what day it is, maybe Wednesday, but does it regally matter?
We left Pangaimotu Island at 3am a couple of days ago and had a very enjoyable sail to Nomuka Iki where we hunkered down in 20+ knot winds for over 24 hours. As we were surrounded by reefs, the skipper chose to sleep in the cockpit just in case a speedy escape was required. Just when we thought it was a abating, wham! we were slammed with 90 minutes of 30+ knots which changed right through 360 degrees! The storm also brought with it torrential rain. It stopped just as quickly as it started and we enjoyed a calm (if a little too rolly) night.
This morning we had a quick swim and snorkelled some local coral reefs. Around lunchtime we picked up the anchor and motor sailed 20nm to the wonderful Limu Island… a pretty near perfect tropical island.
A quick walk on the beach (trying not to tread on any of the thousands of hermit crabs) and managed to open a few coconuts taken straight from the tree. We enjoyed a little picnic with Chris and Ingrid from the yacht Willpower before heading back to Mari at dusk.
Maybe tomorrow we’ll repeat….
Limu is one of those idyllic islands that I always picture when “tropical island” is mentioned. Crystal clear water, white sand beach and coconut trees.
We had sundowners and fresh coconuts on the beach with Chris and Ingrid from Willpower. It took some ingenuity to find a way of opening up the coconuts but the dingy anchor turned out to be up to the job.
The weather was wet and windy and there was division amongst the fleet with some boats electing to miss the Ha’apai group and head straight for Vava’u.
We elected to go through the Ha’apai’s and our first stop was Nomuka Iki island. A local called Willie met us on shore and he showed us his house and let us shelter from the rain. A new yacht club is under construction along the beach. We hosted drinks for Willpower and while Ingrid and Chris were on board with us we experienced a short fierce squall with a complete 360 wind shift and whiteout conditions. It was quite scary.
Our first birthday celebration on the voyage!