Wednesday November 15, 2000 South Minerva Reef

Discussions over SSB radio about weather in the morning led some boats to consider staying at the Minerva Reefs for a night or two and both NEW TRICKS and AMALTHEA went into North Minerva, but only stayed for lunch, or as Milan put it that evening on the Seafarers net; 'We stopped for a cup of tea'.  We had intended to keep going but noticed that there were two pins out of the furling foil on the staysail. This meant we would be unable to bring the staysail down should it become necessary. Since we were 18 miles from South Minerva, we decided to turn back and put in there overnight to make repairs. The top pin is the same pin Vlad knocked back in when Brian (LOAFER) hauled him up the mast in anchorage 16 in Vava’u. We should have replaced the pin then.

We motored back to South Minerva, making a very easy entry through the pass. With the southeasterly swell the pass, on the northwest side, is very well protected and the light was perfect for seeing the coral heads which are not that numerous and are well spaced.

GRAY HAWK, NATIVE DANCER, CELANDINE, FIO OKO, PERSIAN LADY and NELLIE (a small catamaran) were already there along with EQUINOX who had decided to have a one night layover as well. The anchor went down in a nice sandy patch with not too many coral heads nearby in 60 feet of water.

We had lunch with a couple of beers each (our last) and then took a nap, thinking we would fix the foil in the morning but a later conversation with GRAY HAWK on the state of the tide and the probable increase in motion early in the morning made us sober up quickly and get to our repairs right away. They proved not too difficult and we were done in an hour or less.

Minerva Reef is a rather awesome place to anchor. There you are, anchored in about sixty feet of water behind a reef which is about 100 yards wide, with the whole Pacific Ocean on the other side of it. We thought we had become accustomed to reef anchoring, but   this is the first time we’ve anchored where there is not even a small motu with a palm tree waving on it nearby. Paula found it rather unnerving and acrophobic, and when on deck would make a strong effort not to look over the reef to the ocean. It’s not so bad when the tide is low, because the reef is then very visible but at high tide it really looks as though the next wave is just going to roll straight over the reef and carry the boat away. There are areas on the reef where there are rocks and we wondered how long it might take before enough of a heap of fragments and sand had built up that a motu might form. Certainly not in our lifetime. It would take luck too, because one cyclone or even just a big storm would wipe all the work out and nature would have to start again. The rocks do provide a place for seabirds to rest, but unfortunately we were not close enough to identify any.

While Paula was in the middle of the rather laborious task of hauling Vlad up the mast, Sue, Shane (GRAY HAWK) and Sandy (CELANDINE) came by with a lobster for dinner. They have been catching quite a few in their five day stay here. Unfortunately it was a female with a lot of eggs, which we dropped into the water hoping they might be fertile. With rock lobster you have usually killed the creature before you know the sex. In any case it made a very nice langouste au saffron and Vlad put some of the fish in it as well. Sue said that they had enjoyed the snorkeling here a lot, mainly due to the extremely clear water. It’s cold though, so you need a wet suit.

Both of us had showers although with very little water due to a blockage in the pipe from the tank to the pump, which Vlad later fixed. Since Paula was not inclined to remake the beds (on passages we use our aft cabin to sleep and all our extra gear has to be moved to the forward cabin), Vlad slept in the aft cabin and Paula slept in the saloon.