It really was quite a good passage up here from Tonga. In particular, we all got our sea legs quickly, and took the somewhat lively sailing on the second day well in stride. But the passage did real damage to the chances for a crazy idea that we had been cooking up - to finish our season in the tropics by sailing directly from Fiji to Australia, spend a month in Iluka (our spiritual home) and then sail across the Tasman to New Zealand.
It all sounded so doable in the cozy anchorages of Vava'u. We find that we have grown very fond of Oz, and would love to have just one more month in Iluka before we shift ourselves away from the southwest Pacific.
But sailing Fiji-Australia-New Zealand instead of Fiji-New Zealand would add a hell of a lot of passage time to our itinerary. And the coming season in New Zealand is already looking full - with the science work I have to finish up, with a trip back to the States to see family, and with the inevitable round of boat preparations - there's a lot that will have to happen if we are going to be ready to leave En Zed in March or April. And this last passage reminded me, at least, that passagemaking requires a bit of effort. Not sure if it would be wise to try to squeeze in a visit to Australia...
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