Day 41

Wednesday 10th June 2009

Port Maurelle

The crew slept in late. The day was funny with quite a number of showers and strong gusts of winds. Kairos is planning to leave tomorrow for Fiji, and the teenagers on board are sad. Its amazing how short and intense these relationships are, when you are so isolated. I�ve had my arm twisted to let the two oldest return to Neafu with Kairos as she fills up with diesel and water and clears customs � we will make some plans to retrieve them tomorrow or the next day. The younger crew are happy as not only do they have the friends from Red Thread but Tusitala has arrived with more little people. Joy and I looked after the young people from both theses vessels for the afternoon to ensure that their respective adults could get to Mariners Cave.

We have momentary entertained the thought of joining the few boats that are going now to Fiji � it would be fun but we are coming to the end our trip and this would entail nearly a week all told of sailing and officialdom etc. So we have reluctantly stuck to our plans for making our way back to Nuku�alofa. We will have some fronts with Northerlies coming through Sunday that we will wait to pass over us before making our way down to do some more exploring of the Hapai group on the way down. We are missing Josh a lot and are looking forward to have him join the crew for the trip home.

We are impressed by the number of people who we have met that have sold their all, quit their jobs and careers and sunk all into their vessels and their trip. They sail until all their money has run out and then intend to return and sell their vessels and start again. This is a major commitment but we take only our experiences with us and the memories of the people we have touched with us when leave this earth. Its funny because when you speak to the land lovers they see the wealthy out cruising but the vast majority have no other asset on the planet except their boats � so when misfortune strikes in the form of major repair this has a huge impact on their cruising budgets and plans.

Skipper