As I downloaded the weather information and looked at our position I realized: We’re back on the ‘eastern’ side of the globe again ! About eight miles ago we crossed from the western to the eastern hemisphere – currently we’re at 179° and 51′ EAST ! Heh. It’s only a letter on the GPS – but the meaning is clear: With every mile we’re sailing, we’re getting closer to home. Although that concept of home seems rather unreal right now.
Anyway. Last night we navigated through the Lau islands. Very exciting at night ! We saw the last island disappear on the horizon just as the sun rose. Right now we’re in the Koro Sea and about half an hour ago again we saw land: The island of Ngau on the port side and Koro on the starbord side. Both islands are about 35 nm away and we’ll try to navigate in between, afterwards going north of Nairai and Mbatiki towards our destination. We expect to make landfall in the first hours of daylight. The SY Optimist whom we last saw exactly one year ago will also be there. Nice !!
LATITUDE: 17°45.86S, LONGITUDE: 179°51.01W, COURSE: 258T, SPEED: 4.1, WIND: E3, TO GO: 57nm