We're expecting to have moderate winds the first two days, then 20+ knots the last day, probably mixed in with squalls and rain. This doesn't sound that great, but it's better than departing a few days from now and having 20+ for our passage with 3 meter seas, and also better than departing a couple of days ago when we would have had very light air for the passage, then have been greeted by 25-30kts gusting to 40kts. We'll have the staysail ready on the foredeck and make sure everything is well secured below. Assuming we can get through the north pass on Fakarava we should be protected from the trade winds in the NE corner of the atoll.
In preparation for our passage, yesterday we "cut the grass". It's amazing how fast grass, or seaweed, grows along our waterline. We just cleaned it off three weeks ago, but it had grown back enough to need cleaning again to improve our sailing speed for the passage. We've moved out of suburbia, but we still need to cut the grass!
Today Fay went ashore to find a home for our garbage. We've gotten very good at not producing a lot of garbage by managing packaging as we bring things onto the boat. But some amount of packaging is still aboard and over time it accumulates. We now generate a bag of garbage about every 3-4 weeks, not bad compared to the 2-3 bags a week at home!
Time to pack up, stow the dinghy and have a last cocktail before our departure.
