08.00hrs A bright beautifull morning in Rarotonga, we cleaned up the boat after the mess the army of kids made last night, but they were great, and we all enjoyed the day and evening on " A Lady"
S. read the emails from lots of well wishers , all enquiring about " Fats " and how he is doing. S. tried in vain to get a seat on the Daily Helicopter sight seeing tour. booked up again, These guys are busy, busy. So , S. got on the scooter and motored up the mountain to the Hospital to see how " Fats" is doing, and will he be returning to the ship today!
On arrival, there was your man sitting in the hallway reading a news paper, and whats more, he looked much better. The colour on his head had returned to normal, and we could see all the stitches clearly now, ( his new War Wounds) actually, in Rarotonga, they refer to damage like " Fats " has as " Cook Island Tatoo's " how about that....
It seems that accidents on scooters here are common, a few every day. His four days in Hospital cost the princely sum of 700 euros,, not too bad.. God, could you imagine what that would cost at home ! and he said the food was reasonable to good !......
John was already doing his thing down town, so skipper stopped at a cafe across from the airport for a coffee and scone, but wound up stuffing his face completly with lots of the wonderfull, sinfull, fatning, gooey food, on offer in the place. It was so good, that the skipper bought plenty of Quiche's and other pie's for the deep freezer on board. The owner " Stu " from NZ, was really blown away, when skipper informed him that we had Josh Cronfeld out sailing with us ! and signed our visitors book. It seems that Josh, was up giving a talk to an awards ceromony in Rarotonga, The Tierney's got to know and entertain him and his wife "Bronwyn" and baby Cassius, Walla, next thing , they are on board " A Lady" and off out for a sail with :- Rory,& Erin, and their children , Finn & Issey,
Anne tierney, Skipper and John the scot.
Donal has been told that he has to return to the hospital next monday, so that means he cannot sail with us today, so its decided he will stay with our NBF's , The Tierneys for the few days, and then if every thing is ok next monday, he will find his way back to the boat, where ever we are.!
13.30hrs We are interviewed by the local press, so we explained that we were doing a round the world trip with the "World ARC" and it was really an accident or chance that we wound up in their wonderfull Island. 7 yachts from the world ARC fleet eventually made their way to Rarotonga.
After all that, we set about preparing the boat to go to sea, we had to clear the harbour authorities, the customs, and immigration and pay an exit Tax, Did you ever ? an exit tax............... yes NZ $55.50 each, ( 27,75 euros )
However, we will not complain,, we really enjoyed the visit to their Island.
17.00hrs We untied our shore lines, hauled the anchor, waved " bon Vouyage" to all our fellow sailors ( they are not leaving untill tomorrow , Friday ) and motored out of the little harbour . once outside, we opened up all the sails and set a course for " Niue " a distence of 585 miles. ETA next Monday morning at 08.00hrs.
The wind was right behind and blowing a steady 24/26 knots so we goosewinged the boat and soon we were sailing at a steady 8.5 knots. On board :- Skipper and John ( Scotty) so night watches will be , 4 hrs on, and 4 hours off, very simple. Its called the KISS principle " Keep It Simple , Stupid. "
Thats it from the middle of the South Pacific Ocean again. This time, a clear night with a full Moon climbing high up over the boat, just a wonderfull night for sailing, and the temperature is a cool 28 C degrees.
Signed :- Stephen Hyde, ( Skipper )