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.
Two nights ago Riina caught us a Crevelle Jack fish off the back of the boat and we made sushi. With all the accoutrements waiting in the cupboard we've been itching to roll up some tasty fish. It was awesome, and to follow, Riina stewed us up some Finish fish soup with the remains of the Jack, literally using every ounce of the meat. Yum-yum!
Last night felt like being offshore without the sailing. The wind backed thirty degrees to NNE from NE so that we started taking the NE swell on the side, which rocked us very roughly and nobody slept very well until the wind lightened around 5 am. Fortunately our not-so-rigorous schedule permitted everyone to catch up on sleep until around 10 am.
Riina and Matt jumped in for a morning swim, before baking some banana bread with the last of our browning produce. While they cooked, Danielle and I dove in to visit our neighborhood giant stingrays. After breakfast we all gathered snorkel gear for our first trip to the far side of the lagoon, about a mile and a half away. Before today the winds have been strong enough that we didn't feel confident that we could paddle our dinghy back into the headwind if the outboard cut out. Did I mention that
we are alone? Today the winds have moderated greatly and with the change of direction we decided to try it.
On the other side of the lagoon, about a mile and a half away, we found what looks like an underwater field of giant boulders. These were enormous living coral heads, the largest of which was around 30-feet in diameter, and awash at the top. We anchored next to one of them, did our usual 360-degree scan for sharks, tallied one who headed away once we jumped in, and then started exploring. The fish here were much larger than we'd seen in other areas. Tens of them were definitely in the 40-pound range;
mostly Jacks and Pampanos, and maybe a Grouper?
We motored from there around the perimeter of the reef, admiring the perfectly peeling, triple-overhead waves. These would be great for the Laird Hamilton set, but nothing that tempted the two of us. We ate chicken, cheese and crackers for lunch on the dinghy and then took another dive into the aquamarine water. This one was cut short when we saw the largest shark we've seen yet, nearly 6 feet, heading our way. We've all become more comfortable with sharks but the big ones still send us scurrying
up into the dinghy like a bunch of scared seals.
This calming weather seems to offer a good window to leave. Our hope is that with less wind the pass will be more, well, passable.
ETD: Tuesday morning for Niue Island.
Confetti is anchored on the east side of the lagoon, over a beautiful sand bottom, with scattered coral heads 18-feet below. The snorkeling under the boat is pretty good in itself. We had five huge sting rays hanging out yesterday in the sand groomed smooth by the motion of the anchor chain over it. We also have a large shark who periodically patrols the area as well as tons of fearless, curious fish who don't seem to worry about him, or us. But to get the aquarium-type diving, we've been dinghy-ing
over to the edge of the reef, our new outboard proving itself to be quite handy. Yesterday we found yet another shipwreck, its pieces scattered under the water, acting as condominium-style housing for the fish. It, of course, can cause a sailor quite a visceral reaction to see these wrecks and try to imagine what went through the captain's and crew's minds as their boat ground to a halt on the reef, which, coming from seaward, is impossible to see at night and only visible by a line of white breaking
waves during the day.
We've had some arts and crafts and game-playing the last couple days: Riina has sewn beautiful and much-needed new leather on the steering wheel, Dan is splicing the roller-furler line, and Matt and I have the cribbage board out. Today we had a cleaning party and got the boat ship-shape, and intend to hang around for a couple more days. It's just too cool here to leave our little piece of paradise, and we know we will most likely never find a place like this again. This is also the first time we've
stayed in an anchorage for more than just a quick visit, and it feels great to get into the swing of life on the hook!
Our plan is to stay here at Beveridge (shark) Reef for 3 or 4 more days, enjoying the remoteness and special quality of such an untouched place. BTW: no sign of any rodents on board, so they are either dead in the bilge or they jumped ship during the misery of offshore.
We are anchored, after a 72-hour, 440nm passage from Rarotonga, on a sandbar in the middle of the Pacific Ocean!! On a recommendation from our friend Ross, we decided to check out Beveridge Reef, an uncharted atoll. We used a hand-drawn sketch and GPS coordinates from some other cruisers to come through the pass. With no navigational aids, and no humans within 125 miles (Niue), and the only sign of life a chilling shipwreck on the reef, it was pretty exhilarating to say the least.
The outside ring of the reef is mostly submerged, but we are inside in a lagoon of 30 feet of water. We've heard the snorkeling - not surprisingly - is phenomenal, the sharks are only semi-territorial, and the reef is really cool to check out. After an amazing sunset, a game of hearts and some drinking coconuts infused with rum, we're lighting the grill to throw some New Zealand steaks on and to generally live the cruisers dream right here on our very own atoll. We'll launch the dinghy and check
out our surroundings after a good night's sleep.
176nm from Beveridge Reef. No wind, gray skies and rain. It's like the Pacific Northwest down here! Tired from a night of changing conditions, but all well aboard and big omelets for breakfast. Matt is still trying to catch a fish.
Matt practicing his knots. Riina and Matt have been keen learners aboard Confetti!
Confetti is 200nm west of Rarotonga. That's right, west! We had planned to go north to Suwarrow Island, but the wind was on the nose, and forecast was to remain that way: NW 15-20 knots. So we said, "Let's go west instead!"
We are currently en route on a course of 280-degrees true to an uninhabited atoll called, "Beveridge Reef." It is about 125 miles east of the island, Niue, where we intend to afterward go. We may still head north to Suwarrow, after Niue, before going to American Samoa. But we will see what the wind dished out for us.
The last 20 hours of sailing have been absolutely delightful, close-reaching and beam-reaching in 15-20 knots today, moving along at an easy 8-knots. In fact the sailing has been the easiest and most lovely sailing of our whole trip. Knock on wood, but with no pressing repairs or big projects I actually sat on deck and read for hours today - a first in a while. It was particularly nice because the air is cooler at this latitude, and the sky has been completely cloud-covered. Not great for the solar
panels, but really welcome relief on the skin. Riina also enjoyed a good book, and Matt and Dan did what I suspect they've been doing for much of their 20+year friendship, and talked, chatted, discussed, ranted! It was a great day and Matt is now harnessed into the galley (since we are on starboard tack, heeling away from the stove) cooking us up a good meal.
We had the fishing gear out earlier, but the only interested party was a Tropic bird that kept dive-bombing our lure. Every time it did we all screamed as loud as we could at it, since fried Tropic bird doesn't sound that appealing.
If the wind holds, we should be approaching Beveridge reef (S20 00 W167 46) by Tuesday morning. All well aboard S/V Confetti on a dark, cloudy, but wonderful night!
