I arrived at Nuie - a small island nation of 1100 people. It was a rough trip with high winds and I had to hand steer most of the last 30 hours because the bracket that locks the main tiller broke. The failure is a fatigue type - it's been going a long time - a lot of the failure surface has rust on it. I see there's a crack on the other side as well. Anyway, with the high winds 25 steady up to 40 in squalls and gusts in excess of 50 it was hard work.
The good thing is the boat felt really secure and safe despite all the hassle. Anyway, I was about 6 hours later (time I spent trying to fix the unfixable and I had to heave to for a couple of hours just to rest) than I expected.
The island is couple of big 30m thick pancakes lifted from the ocean - actually coral reefs- so what you have is 5 m swell hitting a vertical, more or less surface which is cracked and creviced etc. The surf you get is amazing, with huge vents that shoot hundreds of feet in the air. Coming in in the evening meant the light was good, so I wished I had a decent camera.
Anyway, I'm really tired - this last 5 days qualifies as an epic. I do feel like I accomplished something though. This place looks really interesting so I'll stay awhile I think. The diving is supposed to be amazing, plus the uplifted coral is full of caves etc. So, get some sleep, eat first now that my gut is OK (yes it was food poisioning - I thought seasickness was possibly reasonable since I'd had such flat sailing for so long and the motion at the beginning of the trip was just plain nasty - it just didn't occur to me that it was something I'd eaten)
Take care
Love Dad
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At 25/08/2011 4:14 AM (utc) our position was 18°59.34'S 168°22.13'W
The good thing is the boat felt really secure and safe despite all the hassle. Anyway, I was about 6 hours later (time I spent trying to fix the unfixable and I had to heave to for a couple of hours just to rest) than I expected.
The island is couple of big 30m thick pancakes lifted from the ocean - actually coral reefs- so what you have is 5 m swell hitting a vertical, more or less surface which is cracked and creviced etc. The surf you get is amazing, with huge vents that shoot hundreds of feet in the air. Coming in in the evening meant the light was good, so I wished I had a decent camera.
Anyway, I'm really tired - this last 5 days qualifies as an epic. I do feel like I accomplished something though. This place looks really interesting so I'll stay awhile I think. The diving is supposed to be amazing, plus the uplifted coral is full of caves etc. So, get some sleep, eat first now that my gut is OK (yes it was food poisioning - I thought seasickness was possibly reasonable since I'd had such flat sailing for so long and the motion at the beginning of the trip was just plain nasty - it just didn't occur to me that it was something I'd eaten)
Take care
Love Dad
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At 25/08/2011 4:14 AM (utc) our position was 18°59.34'S 168°22.13'W
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