We’re just hanging today, anchored off Couseau Resort on the corner of the bay. Tomorrow morning we’ll leave for Koro (30 miles), which will be our overnight stop on the way to Nairai (another 40 miles). We need to break up the trip to allow for entering through the reef in sunlight. You can’t trust the gps-it’s sometimes off by 1/4 mile and sometimes dead on. The main thing is to use it as one tool, verify with radar and have a good visual. There are a ton of reefs in these bays that are just not even charted, so the visual part is essential when you enter an anchorage for the first time. We’ve just been waiting for good weather. It’s been 100 percent overcast for days, with winds out of the south and right now it’s raining. Tomorrow, the clouds are supposed to start receding and the wind backing to give us a more favorable angle. If the forecast is correct, we should have a beam reach in 20 knots and 4 to 5 foot seas tomorrow, then 15 knots and almost clear sky for our arrival at Nairai. Should be an interesting week. Cross fingers for our fishing for the next two days. We’re on our last bit of Mahi and would like some fresh fish. Last night I poached the Mahi in a coconut/eggplant curry over rice. I have to say it was yummy!

Today’s only event was getting up at 0600 to untangle the anchor chain. I knew I should have put a float on it, but didn’t and sure enough we got short chained during the night. We wanted to untangle from the hidden rock before the wind came up-hence the early effort. It came off fairly easily and I tied a fender to the chain about thirty feet out on a twenty foot line,(we’re in about sixty feet of water) so hopefully it’s floating the chain up off the rocks and coral on the bottom. We’ll find out in the morning!

Here’s today’s tidbit on provisioning. We left NZ with 54 lbs of ground coffee (dark roast, vacumn packed). As of today, we have 23 lbs left. We’re doing pretty good. There’s no good coffee here (unless you like instant), so this was an essential provisioning plan. We’re also down to our last French Press having broken two so far. If we break this one it’s “cowboy coffee” for the rest of the trip.