Timshel - Christmas to Cocos Day 1

The time allowed for the stopover at Christmas Island was 48 hours so we were busy. Our yellow shirt, Galen, efficiently organised mooring for all the boats (we were rafted with Emily Morgan and Pinta) and the clearances with Australian Border Force and Biosecurity, even though he had to rearrange this for Misto at the last minute as Ros unfortunately had to fly home to North Carolina to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Florence and their house. It was good to see a bit of the island and the wildlife - some amazing huge crabs (apparently there are over 20 kinds) and some interesting birds such as the Golden Bosun Bird that flew around the harbour. The water was amazingly clear and Anita went for a quick swim to look at the fish. On Saturday morning we refilled our small diesel can at the filling station - we had used so little so far on this leg we got in less than 7L, got shopping at the supermarket - well stocked though not much fresh produce and expensive - except for alcohol which was duty free, and some more internet time at the Visitor Centre. Then it was a rush to get the dinghy on deck and put away and the boat ready to go. We left the mooring after 48h but were about an hour late at the start line. Only Spirit of Catherine and Smoke and Roses were left in the bay (both catamarans), I expect they will catch us up. There was some confusion as to whether the SSB sched was to be on Lombok time (where we had started this leg) or Christmas Island time (the midway stopover), Christmas time was agreed. Folk were muttering about multiple sail changes (I guess we did 3 in the first 3 hours) and Mad Monkey at the front had blown a spinnaker, I think they have another. It all settled down to a pleasant moonlit sail overnight.