Sunday 14th October

At Sea
22 28.104 S
164 40.354 E (at Midnight)

At last the leaving day arrived. We were up fairly early as we had a couple of last minute things to do before we could leave. Gerry topped up the water tanks and stashed the hoses away and then we hauled the dinghy back on the deck and strapped it into place for the passage. Next, and most important thing was to have breakfast, we walked across the road and ate with the clown – well it would be the last chance for a week or so and we had to use up our last few coins! After eating we wandered back to the marina office which was now open and paid our bill and returned the bathroom key. Finally we were ready to leave. At 09.00hrs with a little help from our dock neighbours we slipped the dock lines and motored out of the marina. The day started well with bright sunny sky and wind at 15 knots on the beam. We motored for about an hour to get us out clear of the reef and then turned into wind to hoist the main with the first reef in play, the jib quickly followed but again we didn’t pull it all the way out as we were moving along quite well with only half of it out. The weather lasted until lunch time and then the clouds filled the sky and it began to spit with rain, the wind blew a bit harder and the sea swell turned lumpy – not so pleasant. Unfortunately for us this was to be the pattern for the rest of the day, it left me with a horrid headache which I just couldn’t shift and made both of us feel very lethargic. We didn’t bother fishing as we have enough prepared food to last us until we reach home, but even going below to heat some of that up proved to be a major undertaking. By 15.00hrs the wind was blowing 25 knots and we decided that putting the second reef in the main would probably be prudent for the night. The night watches were, as usual for a first night, pretty painful – neither of us managed much sleep as the motion was too violent, still we can always catch up as we go along.