+3

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No birds, no dolphins, no wind, no story, no pictures.

Any comments?

+2

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There is nothing much to report. Just doing our shiftslazing around and taking photos of the sunrise and sunset.

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Last night the sky was so clear. I poked my head out of the cockpit to look at the stars. The moon had not risen yet. The bright stars shining white looked like they were on a black velvet backdrop. As my eyes adjusted to the light or lack of light, a second layer of light grey stars appeared filling the gaps between the white stars. Then a third layer of dark grey stars smothered the remaining black with dots. from horizon to horizon the sky was covered in stars. there was no space left for the black velvet backdrop. something you can only see far from the city lights.

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Wednesday 11th

Today we had low swell and winds making it a slow trip, so I put the rod off the back of Imagine with a small lure. While Austin and Julia slept, B and I played cards (B won). Just as we finished the rod went BZZZZZZ… there was something on the line! I raced onto the back deck to start reeling in our dinner. B depowered the boat to slow us down to make it easier for me. Austin and Julia came out on deck to see what the fuss was about.

It took 15 minutes to get the fish along side. I would get it close to Imagine then it would dive and I would have to reel it back in. Austin got the gaff hook and was ready to hook what looked to be a Tuna when the lure ripped out of its mouth. I put the line out again hoping for another chance but no luck.

For dinner, B had leftovers and Julia wasn’t hungry. Austin and I had Egg and Baked Beans on toast.

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Tuesday 10th

Over night the wind and swell was up, making it an uncomfortable night. This morning we discovered that during the night we had visitors. On the deck were three flying fish. They must have been Kamikase fish. 
As the day went on the wind started dropping and continued to drop below the 10knts we need to sail. This means we had to motor and will have to for a few days as we go through the centre of the high. We could sail around the high, but it would add days to the journey.
She is still alive! Julia made it up top to do her mid day shift. She even managed to keep down lunch. B is winning the hairstyle competition with her Rod Stewart look.

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Monday 9th

Overninght Julia was having a hard time keeping her food down, so she slept on the floor hanging on to her bucket. This morning she isn’t much better  so this means the shifts are shared between Austin, B and myself.
The day has been uneventful. Just sailing a little of course due to the wind and waves. As we have little to do either than watch, eat and sleep Austin and B are having an hairstyle competition…wonder who is the craziest?B will need to see a doctor when arriving: She was sleeping down below when suddenly woke up and asked Andrew to check on the helicopter landing on top of Imagine! It was just the noise of Imagine engine running! Might be Pacific Ocean hallucination.

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Sunday 8th

This morning we had enough wind to unreef the main and put the head sail out. Slowly the wind dropped and swung more north this meant we had to go with motor assist. Most of the afternoon the wind was down to 7kts, but the swell was also down to 1m.
Today everyone was feeling a bit better and we were all able to have lunch together, and it stayed down. Everyone is settling into the routine and roster. This afternoon we all got turns to have a nap, with the gentle rock of the waves. 
Tonight we are going to try Nachos for dinner.

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Saturday 7th

The wind and swell slowly dropped overnight and during today.  The two newbies got plenty of sleep, sleeping in the saloon, rising about lunchtime. Julia straight away took a shift at the helm. Still not well enough to eat more then a couple of dry crackers. Austin arose and then went back to bed till his turn on the helm. We are now back to 2 hours on and 6 hours off shifts.
It looks like it will be my job to eat all the food we had bought for the passage, as most of it will be confiscated when we get to New Zealand. B is on soup bananas and crackers. That is if we have enough dry crackers to last, for the others.
By lunchtime the wind was at a constant 20kts and the swell was down to 1m. Very good sailing. We have the 140% head sail out with the main and mizzen sails. This is giving us a nice 6.5kts of speed.

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Friday 6th
We all headed into Denarau this morning at 7.30am. It took till 9.30 to clear customs because there were so many boats leaving, there was a que.
Once cleared we hauled anchor and set sail. At 12.00 we came across a local boat in trouble. There outboard motor had stopped and they needed help. We called for help on the VHF radio and the Fiji Navy boat was soon on its way. Before it got there another local boat came along and was able to tow the small fishing boat back to shore. It was after 1.00pm when we were able to get back underway.
As we ventured out into the 3m swell and 30kt winds Julia and then Austin discovered the swell is different out here and they took a bucket each. By evening the swell had dropped to 2m and the wind was a comfortable 20kts.
I was the only one game enough to eat dinner (spaghetti Bolognese). B had crackers.

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This morning we welcomed Julia onboard. Austin left us to discover Nadi and sort out some internet downloading. We sailed back to Malolo Lailai island, had a swim and chatted the rest of the day. We went through all the safety procedures with Julia and spent the evening drinking a bottle of wine on the foredeck watching the sun go down.