May 11, 2004

The winds howled and it rained all night! It is now 7am on the 11th and the wind is 20-25k from the NNE and we are not in a happy mood. The lagoon is getting rougher as the waves build and we are planning to move soon to a better anchorage on a neighboring islet with better protection from the North, we hope. Of course, we still have our dinghy on deck and have not been to the village to pay our respects (and our entrance fee) but the safety of the boat comes first and we are not concerned with formalities right now.

At about 7:45am we raised the hook and motored North about 2 miles into the lee of an islet called Ennopu Island which is oriented in a NW/SE direction giving excellent protection from the North and East. The winds were about 27k at the village anchorage and now we are seeing 10-18k with about 19k maximum but the waves are gone and it is nice and calm here. Wind direction is fluctuating between 5 degrees and 25 degrees (magnetic).