22 boats left Wednesday, we waited another day when only 5 boats left. What did we miss? We heard on the SSB that there was champagne sailing out there, so in search of that we go.
Looks a bit sporty?
We are now just about 12 hours into the journey and if we had any champagne it certainly would be shook up and have lost all its great effervescence.
We had a Mexican night onboard, enchiladas and rice, and a salt covered boat, just missing the rest of the margarita.
Still searching for champagne.
Cheers, All well onboard, at least another day of bouncing along.
All good in Tuvalu 🇹🇻, anchor down, engines off, anchor beer in hand
Anchor beer
Now to find customs and immigration to check in.. 😎
How cool is the name “Funafuti”, even has “fun” right in the name!
Will we be able to walk on solid ground without grabbing for the nearest palm tree?
Looks like we might chill out here for a week or so, looking for a bit better wind forecast. We will be heading south, and the forecasted winds are south east, we will wait for more east than south in the winds.
So time to explore a new place..and of course ponder/investigate the steering repairs.
In the doldrums of the ITCZ, light winds, small seas, gray and mostly overcast. Luckily not much in the way of rain, lots of rain on the horizon in every direction, but we managed to stay dry. Just hot and sticky.
We should arrive Tuvalu shortly after sunrise, which is should help in navigating the reef and make our way across the atoll to the main town to do the formalities of clearing customs and immigration.
We kept the engine pushing us forward to make a Friday arrival as the “word on the streets (internet)” is the official offices are closed on the weekend. So technically we would be confined to the boat till Monday till we could go through the process of clearing in. A stretch of the legs dictated the drone of the diesel we have been enjoying. “Get there, get cleared in!” sounded so much better than arrive and then wait around in quarantine till Monday
On the bright side, batteries and water tanks are topped to the max, but the diesel tank did suffer some loss all in the name of getting there. 🙂
Christine worked magic and has lined up a few options for getting our pieces put back together once we arrive Fiji. Will also ask around Tuvalu if there is any welders equipped for stainless work to see if we can get the drag link sorted and return the port rudder to service.
