We dropped a hook here at 8:30 AM this morning. It seems like a nice village, and we will explore it later today.

We had an uneventful passage after our last update. A northeasterly breeze picked up, and we turned off the motor at 2:00 in the afternoon and sailed through the night with just a jib up. Lauren made mahi mahi cakes accompanied by grilled eggplant for dinner. Delicious. We saw 10 ships last night, and one passed a mile behind our stern. God bless AIS!

15 minutes into my 3:00 – 7:00 AM shift, a squall with 30 knot winds hit us. It dumped rain for 2 hours, and was very breezy through sunrise. The risk of sudden squalls is the main reason why we sail with just a jib at night, because it’s easier to control than the main. Especially when the wind shifts 180 degrees.

Anchoring here was a little tricky, because the harbor can be 100 feet deep and then suddenly have coral 8 feet below the surface. We had to set the anchor twice, and in my excitement to make sure there were no coral heads behind us, I had my nice orange Nokia phone in my pocket when I jumped in to check the anchor. Oh well. It’s ruined.

Per Ardua is here, along with an Australian expedition tour boat called True North. It’s raining. I’m going back to bed. It’s always nice to drop an anchor after a passage.