with relief. Despite 25 knots at sea when
we left, and 2.5 m swells, it was more comfortable
than the rolly anchorage. Picked the best time to
weigh anchor too: there was no current. Villagers
greeted us with pawpaws and some pig meat
(rought in a leaky coconut basket it put a lot of
fat on the decks, to my despair, after havign one
week of local helpers eating betelnut, coconut and
smoking cigarettes, the KUNA needed a good
seawash in rough seas!!!
100 miles from Taumako to Lata in a SW
course took 20 hours as we were trying to
slow down and the wind died at the end of the
night replaced by a light land breeze. Lata has a
nice protected bay but an extremely deep harbour
with onlyone sheltered anchorage possible in Luesalo
(Shaw POint on the Eastern side of the bay, which
used to have a logging wharf). Even there, KUNA sits
in 15-20 m on old coral.
Hem now, glad to rest from 6 days of a rolly anchorage waiting for BBC Huw
Cordey producer to fly in.
