TONGA IN SIGHT

For the past forty-eight hours we have been sailing with the jib poled out to port and the main to starboard.  I haven’t touched anything, neither sails or self-steering – we have headed relentlessly down the track to Tonga.  It’s almost as if Truce is saying she has had enough of me messing around – just leave me to get on with it.  I am happy with that arrangement – an easy way to chew up the miles.

At two this afternoon we saw Tonga in the distance off the port bow.  Just a few more hours sailing and we will be in the lee of the island, where we can loiter around until tomorrow morning to enter and clear inwards.  I expect we will pick up some radio soon (I guess they have a FM station) and then the smells of the land.

This morning I ran the engine for thirty minutes, partly to give the batteries a top up but also to check everything is ok for entering port tomorrow.  Don’t want any surprises.  Later this afternoon I will complete and print out the paperwork required for clearing into Tonga, as soon as we near land the bureaucracy starts again.

Another great night for watching movies in the cockpit.  Tonight’s choice was ‘Blood Diamond’.  It’s quite a long movie and the computer battery ran out of juice half way through.  We will watch the second half this evening.  Total voyage distance 1,606 miles.