This day was bracketed with terrible weather. In the wee hours of the morning at Valaga bay, the wind was up into the low thirties, rain was pelting down, and there were white caps leaping across the water like a herd of Lippizaner horses. We let out almost all the rode of our twin snubber lines with their compensators in an effort to reduce the snatching and yawing we were experiencing. For the worst of it, Captain and I took turns on deck as human eyes anchor watch, in addition to the chart plotter alarm being set. We watched a cargo vessel come and tie up at the refinery. Our excellent old 73 pound rocna hook held tight. We had a nice lunch, took much needed naps , and in late afternoon pulled in the 200 feet of chain, shaking the mud off it every few feet, until the anchor was secured on the bow. We left the bay at the same time as the cargo ship, they passed us just before point pass. I was amused by this. Is that why it’s called Point pass? Ha! It’s been raining pretty much the whole 7 hours we’ve been traveling south. As I write this we are passing through a thunderstorm, galloping along with wind in the twenties in a very lovely usable broad reach quarter. We are off in search of the elusive white sand beaches. We know they exist in the west islands of Fiji, just hope that like the unicorns, they haven’t all disappeared.
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