Oct 18 - Minerva Reef

We've had a wonderful time here. With 360 degree all-weather protection, North Minerva offers a welcome spot to anchor enroute to NZ. Yesterday we saw four whales playing inside the lagoon. We've also walked the reef, taken lots of pictures, cleaned the bottom (again), and Sue's been busy cooking meals and baking. We've met lots of folks from the other five boats here, had a cruisers happy hour aboard another yacht, and had many discussions about the weather. We know of boats that have solicited advice from Commanders Weather, Bob MacDavitt, The Weather Guy, and custom forecasts from Germany, Norway, and even San Francisco! One of the boats here gets real time internet, so up to date information is shared thru our fleet. There's no shortage of opinions! Some pundit has advised against "paralysis by analysis", and our plan is to depart tomorrow (Oct 19 here) for Opua. We'll be checking in daily with the PacSea Net, and attempt to do daily blog updates as well. We're excited to be (soon) underway!