We finally left Raiatea. It's really a beautiful spot even with the few days of heavy rain we had, thanks to some passing low pressures. The rain gave us a chance to go through the boat, check the systems, and see what needed doing before we left. Sunsail were really helpful, which made things much easier. Everything went pretty smoothly until I noticed a mistake on our temporary Australian registration. It said our port of departure was New Caledonia, thousands of miles to the west. I could just picture the customs guys having a field day with that one. After the weeks of delays we had getting the boat papers in order I was a little nervous about another hiccup. Thankfully, a new one was sorted out fast, so no major delays.
Of course, it’s cyclone season, so you expect a bit of iffy weather. But this chain of low-pressure systems stretching practically from the Coral Sea all the way east of us? That’s a bit much. And the weather models are showing another 'little bit of something' brewing near Fiji around the 3rd, right when we’d be in that neck of the woods. With the forecast showing some nasty westerlies that I’d rather avoid, the plan is to head a little north of the direct route, towards Samoa. That should keep us out of the worst of it and give us some wiggle room if things change – because, let’s face it, a 10-day forecast is more of a suggestion than a guarantee. We have some more of my trusted friends on the aft deck - good old 'blue drums' full of diesel which is always a huge advantage, even on a sailing boat you cant have too much fuel especially at this time of year.
Yesterday's breeze was pretty light and right behind us, which pushed us a little further north than I planned - but the way the weather looks further north is far better than further south. It died down overnight, and we motored from around midnight to 4 am, when it started to fill in again. Still from behind, but we're sailing now at about 5 knots, with a few islands to navigate around on the way through Polynesia.
Somehow we have to thread the needle and find a way through all this!
