Tintin - Towards Fiji

The fleet has set sail from Tonga to Fiji. About 1/2 of the boats left
on Tuesday, but we left on yesterday morning with the rest.

Jo has now flown home, so there are only 4 of us onboard. It will be
strange for me to carry on sailing without her after such an amazing 9
month voyage together, but I won't be far behind.

Some time ago - before Bora Bora, in fact, the high pressure hose on our
watermaker burst. My brother Steve quickly sourced a new one and sent
it ahead of us. You wouldn't believe the hassle involved in actually
getting package delivered. After arriving in Tonga from Fiji on 6th
June, it took a further 2 weeks, innumerable phone calls and emails, 2
trips to the airport and some more money before I finally got my hands
on it on Tuesday. Perhaps I appreciate it more because of the effort
involved in getting it. Anyway, it's fitted now, and we're all happy
that daily showers are now allowed - perhaps even encouraged!

We're now about 100 miles from Tonga, 200 from Vanua Belavu - the
island in the Lau group of Fiji where we clear customs. Customs
clearance is not normally possible here, meaning there are few
visitors so we're looking forward to visiting some pretty remote
communities.