The anchorage at Naigani was pretty nice, but at 6am this morning we were lifting the anchor and heading out. It wasn’t the anchorage I had originally planned (there were 2 boats in that one), so we chose to retrace our steps to be sure of clearing any hazards and then turn onto the course past the north of the island.

We had a few jobs to do with the last of the data (calls, emails etc), so I chose to go down to the reef at Ovalau and pass inside that, and around the NE corner. There’s plenty of depth but I wasn’t sure on the current. Fortunately, we had a nice push from it down to the pass on the east side where we headed out. It also gave us good data for a bit longer (though we lost it around the top of Naigani).

Its mostly been sailing since then, though we had to pinch quite hard for the gap between Gau and Nairi. Once through there, we lost the wind for a bit - but its filled in a bit since.

Its quite a tight angle for us but at the moment we’re just about laying the course to Fulaga and should be there tomorrow lunch time (low tide) ready to take the incoming tide into the narrow pass.

Judging from the online AIS websites, there are quite a few boats using the same weather window. I saw a small fleet leaving Savusavu, and our friends on Fenice left their anchorage at Nananu-i-ra about the same time we left ours. They’ll probably pass us, as they can sail closer and are much longer overall (which gives a better speed through the water). We could do with the wind easing aft 10 degrees, but apart from that, its pretty nice out here. Maybe just a little too warm in the cabin with everything shut up…Not that I’m complaining…