One exhausting day, but it had to be done

It was going to be a huge day, we lifted anchor at 4:00am and with the cruise ship and mega yacht’s lights it made it easier to remain oriented for the ourselves.

Exiting from the blue lagoon, we weaved around the islands and reefs timing the sun’s arrival with our exit into longer straight stretches. And with it, up came the sails and off went the engine. It was a beam reach with rolling seas but with speeds between 6.3 and 7.2 knots it was a great, sporty sail. Around lunch time the motor came on and we headed into Vuda point for fuel. I picked up a few provisions on the small shop. While Carl paid for the fuel, I was able to give the boat a quick fresh water rinse. Oh did that feel good to get the salt off.

Next up was a quick motor over the Wailoloa beach where we took the dinghy into shore to fully provision for 3-4 weeks. Of course, as we were getting the dinghy locked up I realized I left the grocery list on the boat, so out I went. It was a four block walk to the store, and inside we grabbed a couple of carts and proceeded to fill them up. All told it wasn’t too bad with about $400 usd spent. Backpacks full of heavy items and Trader Joe’s bags loaded, we began the walk back to the dinghy. Much harder with the heavy load and we switched bags and took some breaks on the way back. The dinghy was packed making it a challenge to get into back into the water and a wet ride to Sky Pond followed. Everything aboard, we had to rinse much of the provisions off and let them dry, leaving them scattered around the boat. The anchorage had dirty water and swell making it a less than ideal overnight location, so quickly we upped anchor.

We motored over to Akuilau Island just south of Denarau. This was an excellent launch point; flat calm, no other boats, and closer to the open ocean. The evening dinner cruise boat drift around us as the sunset letting their guests enjoy the view of the island, Sky Pond, and the sunset. Proving we were is a great spot. For dinner, I whipped up some pesto chicken pasta with a salad and we could breathe in a sigh of relief that our long day was extremely productive and we were ready for our passage.