06.30hrs Up bright and early. Skipper got into the blog and emails, emails from Marilyn, Donals sisters, Sarah, Aileen, all sending best wishes for Donal (Fats) who is still in Hospital.
08.30hrs We got a top up in Diesel, 198 L. and we are full again. Our next leg is to Niue tomorrow, a distance of 585 miles. We worked out that if we leave here tomorrow night at 20.00hrs, we should arrive in Niue at 08.00hrs on monday next morning, and leave Niue on Tuesday night at 18.00hrs we should arrive in Vava'u on thursday next at 12.00hrs. Aileen and Margaret how are due in Vava'u at 16.00hrs that day. All going well. That's the plan.
09.30hrs Skipper and Rory Quirke took off to the Hospital to see how our patient is doing, and doing well he is! However his physiotherapist is not really happy, very concerned about his neck, but " Fats " pood all she had to say. Typical! The news is, he has to stay another day in the hospital. Meanwhile, John took Donal's scooter back to the hire co. and had to explain all the damage...
10.30hrs Skipper and Rory Quirke drove down to the Golf club and played a game of golf. An interesting golf course, with radio ariels all over the place, all defunct, but the club decided to retain them as part of the course. These ariels are at least 50m high, with supporting cables going in all directions. It was like playing " snakes and ladders". We enjoyed ourselves in any case.
12.30hrs We did some shopping for dinner later on the boat. A NZ leg of Lamb, plus wine and lots of veg, the veg and fruit here is great, and very cheap in comparison to Tahiti, everything here is so cheap, its great. We returned to the boat, where we found John had done a great tidy up around the boat, soon after, our guests, The Quirkes and the kids plus Anne Tierney, Josh and Bronwyn Cronfeld ( he being an ex " All Black's " player) joined us on board for a sail out around the bay. The weather was poor enough, 24 knots of wind and big seas, some of the guests got sea sick, so we returned after an hour, but in general, they enjoyed the trip. When we were secured to the quay wall again, the skipper put on dinner for everyone on board, it consisted of :- roast lamb, roast potatoes, sweet potatoes, broccoli, carrots,and mint sauce. + lots of wine. We had a great evening and the kids, ( now six in all ) watched " MAMMA MIA " on the tv, before they started to dismantle the boat. That was time to say good night, but we had a great evening.
Later, John and Skipper had a night cap before retiring to the scratchers.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
That's it,
Stephen Hyde (Skipper)