During the night we had several rain showers but not much wind. In the early morning hours a rain squall with 10-13k from the South came over us but by 6am the wind was back to 6k from the SE. Seas remain calm but cloud cover also remains thick with 60-80% cover. We have 14 miles to reach Tabar and have slowed down to 4.5k. We expect to reach the island at about 9am though we may decide to stand off for another hour or more if we feel visibility is not good enough to enter the channel.

At 9:20am we entered the channel in poor light with intermittent sun. Fortunately as we passed the outer entrance of the channel the sun came out and we had good light for the remainder of the entrance. After about 15 minutes of slow going we found the indentation of the bay on the right side of the channel and entered the bay without incident. After a brief survey of the bay’s depth we anchored on the Southern side of the bay with the anchor in 45-50ft of water. After paying out the cable we were in 62ft which is the depth of the entire bay. Backing down on the anchor revealed that the bottom was coral and we dragged a ways before it finally caught on something. The protection in the bay is excellent from all directions – mountains ring the Eastern side of the bay and although it is open to the West it opens into the channel which is only about a half mile wide. The other the other side of the channel consists of the Northern island in the group which is mountainous also. The wind is from the SSW between 3 and 5k and we don’t expect it to be much stronger during our stay, which will be brief (2 or 3 days).