NZ to TONGA - Day 8 - Holiday at Minerva

Hello,

We have totally enjoyed our impromptu stopover at Minerva Reef :)

We had a little swim this morning, and (rare occurrence) the whole family was in the water. Benjamin had gone with Max for some swimming lessons at the highly recommended wave pool in Whangarei, so he was eager to jump into the water (or at least climb down the ladder) to join us. Benjamin's favourite trick was to do the count down for Max, Victoria, and Johnathan to jump in (Mom was on camera duty), which they would happily oblige from the side of the boat. The water temperature was 24 deg, so he was a little shivery before long, but he kept asking to go back into the water. I know a couple of big kids who used to be like that!

We moved a little in our anchorage this morning. We are already on the windward side of the lagoon, but since the forecast was for squalls overnight potentially to 30 kts, we moved over a little to be sure of having plenty of swing room, regardless of the wind direction. It was a little tedious to find a new spot, as the hazy blue shapes I could see under the water (coral bombies) were just close enough together to make it hard to find a good spot to lay out our chain. We replaced it in NZ, so I feel rather protective of its lovely, uniform grey (high-test galvanized) finish, and we want to avoid anchoring where the chain will get scraped on the coral (and of course, we want to avoid damaging the coral as well!). Our previous chain had had a hard life, and it was getting pretty rusty by the end of last season, despite being only 4 years old.

Having been to Minerva twice already, we purposefully kept our routine very simple this afternoon, and didn't even bother to launch our dinghy for only one day. This left time for a couple of quiet hours when the whole family was reading, writing, or playing peacefully; this is a surprisingly rare occurrence.

The one chore on my list for today was to soak and scrub my hemp Tilley hat. It went for a bit of a swim yesterday when we were anchoring. Thanks to Victoria's quick eye to spot it, and Max's careful Hat-overboard maneuvering (and to the little foam bit inside that kept it afloat), we were able to scoop it back aboard with a boat hook with minimal drama. I have learned that salt water and hemp fabric, for whatever reason, do not play nicely, so a thorough cleaning was necessary in order to keep it from becoming totally overcome by black spots. Thankfully, I had plenty of time for this task!

The forecast is for a trough to pass us tonight and then south-west winds to fill in which will take us to Tonga starting in the morning. We have food for the journey in the fridge, the rest of the boat is asleep, and it is time to wish you a good day.

Love to all,
Elizabeth
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At 2018-06-06 6:56 PM (utc) SV Fluenta's position was 23°37.21'S 178°54.70'W

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