Nana

So it's goodbye to Marcel. He has put in a fantastic 4 or 5 months, always enthusiastic about the boat, checking and repairing. Climbs the mast just to make sure everything is still ok up there. Puts up with all the discomfort, washes up as soon as there is a mess, putting all other male crew to shame. We have crossed two oceans plus the Carribean in a very short time, without a lot of shore time for reward, so I don't blame him for leaving, and hope all goes well.
I visited the next boat in our last anchorage, off Raiatea, as Dieter is a lone sailor and I thought it good to chat with him about it. It was very comforting, his boat is bigger and harder to handle than Ellida. In the morning after dropping Marcel and his bicycle on shore, Dieter hailed me, and brought a fresh baguette over to send me on my way. Then some dolphins came to the bow in the clear blue (it's another blue.... ) water of the pass. A great start, and so far I'm not dissapointed with my first 24 hours alone. Moving very slowly, just covered 70 miles, but it's nice to have the space to myself. A lot of space actually! Since we couldn't check in and out I don't have a zarpe, the magic bit of paper that says where you are going next. I don't think it will be a problem wherever I land, but I feel rather free! If I don't stop I'll be in Fiji in two and a half weeks. More or less.