Farewell, moving on

Our time here at Minerva has drawn to an end as we head off to Fiji. Unhappily, we have said a very sad farewell to Cooee. Their route will take them first to Tonga and then on to Wallis and Tuvalu further north. We've met up with them so regularly over the past years and hate to think that this could well be the last time. Sniff. Having despondently left Vagabond behind in New Zealand after a year and a half of shuffling across the Pacific with them, we'll be feeling rather lonely on this next leg. God how we're going to miss all of them with their camaraderie and much needed and appreciated help. Otto and Lilian are planning to stay on permanently in New Zealand - we wish them everything of the best as they settle into their new life as landlubbers again. They're going to love it there. Bronte and Helmke are on an 18-month journey that will eventually return them to New Zealand next year but our timing is just not in sync at this stage.

We haven't done all that much here, just relaxed and had many meals together - fish, fish and more fish - Helmke's fabulous sushi being the best treat. But, my how Cooee has set a new record in our eyes! On board Cooee, we moved closer to the pass so that the guys could do a bit of spear-fishing there. Helmke and I stayed on board to catch up with trading books and movies.

They hadn't been gone all that long when we heard them returning. Something must have gone wrong: quite the opposite. Lying In the dinghy was the most humungous sailfish literally flopping over the sides. We couldn't believe our eyes. They'd apparently just got into the water when Bronte spied this monster, shot it and then proceeded to try to haul it in calling for Paul to bring the dinghy in closer. However, this fish wasn't going to go quietly. As it went for an attack, he grabbed hold of the sword just in time to divert it away from his body, then got a lucky miss when it went for him again nicking his wetsuit, eventually managing to wrap his legs around it to stop the assault. Scary stuff.

Once the photo session was over (a very proud and grinning Bronte & his fish) the weigh-in was next. 42 kilograms and much taller than Bronte who is 6'3"! This was something he'd been dreaming of for a very long time. Hopefully, he's now got it out of his system as he came a tad too close to some serious injuries.

Happily, Paul is more into the 10 to 15 kilogram fish variety. What the hell does one do with 42 kilos of fish? Fried, grilled, pate, dip, sushi, sashimi, pickled, fish cakes and so on??. Needless to say, our freezer is chock-a-block full so there should be an hiatus on fishing for a while but knowing the guys, that's not going to happen.

 

Later on, we moved over to the southeast corner in the hopes of doing some snorkelling but, at first, the weather just wouldn't play ball. However, two perfect days followed so the guys went outside the reef again and actually swam with a couple of humpbacked whales. Damn, I missed that one. H and I walked along the reef at low tide which is quite an amazing experience when you realise that you're standing in absolutely the middle of nowhere in the great South Pacific Ocean! While snorkelling, we saw two of the largest crayfish we've ever set eyes on which would probably be like eating shoe leather had we been able to grab them.

Another yacht arrived with four guys who were really into their fishing and after a day's outing, came back with one and a half huge Wahoo (the sharks got the other half) as well as a yellow-fin tuna. It sounded as though the fish were literally flying out of the water around them with sharks everywhere. Sort of wish I'd gone along to see this. Anyway, Helmke's amazing sushi again that night - can't get enough of it.

We then endured two day of winds reaching almost 50 knots; the sublime to the ridiculous.

Cooee finally sailed off to Tonga in calm-ish seas yesterday morning and we followed that afternoon by which time the winds were up and the seas pounding. Halfway through the channel out from the reef, we realised that we were going to be punching into enormous waves against head-on winds so did a U-turn and re-anchored. No point getting thrashed around when we can just sit in these beautiful surroundings a bit longer. So, for now, here we will remain waiting for more pleasant conditions.