"the rock"

Niue Island (aka "the rock")- Wednesday, 1100 local time

We are tied to a mooring ball after a good, but rough, 130nm passage from Beveridge Reef. After a week of steady wind blowing water into the atoll, the passage out of the reef was quite, "exciting," followed with 15 to 25-knot SE winds and 10 to 15-foot seas for the passage. We started out with a reefed main and jib, but had to take more and more sail in, as we were going too fast (one of the many reasons we LOVE Confetti!). We didn't want to arrive before daylight to Niue, where as recently
as last fall a sailboat misjudged their GPS navigation and wrecked on the east side (windward) of the island. So we ended up sailing with only a triple-reefed main to finally slow down to 6.5-knots and arrive this morning at first light. We are rubbing our eyes after a sleepless night, eating some food and preparing to launch the dinghy and head ashore to clear into the country. All well here, and the island looks beautiful.