The weather model has been pretty close. Except for a dozen hours or so of wind we got last night which ended in a rainstorm, it’s been spot on. Which means we’re making good time, thanks to that breeze last night, and we’re motoring.
It’s not flat, calm, glassy yet. The sea is still too riled up from a few days of wind for that to just happen right away. But with a massive four knots of wind, it will be with a day or to of this. That’s not supposed to hold too long, but long enough to matter. We’re burning dinosaurs now.
And we’re not fishing any more. With an arrival time looking more like tomorrow morning, we don’t want any more food on the boat than we have. And we have a pretty clear idea how many meals we have to get rid of it. In fact, much of today will be spent trying to eat as much of the frozen stuff we have that we’re pretty certain that Australian Biosecurity will take.
They have a reputation for being very aggressive about the what they let you bring into the country. Going beyond meats and fresh fruit and vegetables, they may also dispose of frozen vegetables. Most countries make it impossible to tell what they will or won’t take, and put a broad array of foods on a list that must be “declared” so they can “inspect” them. In our history with some countries, “inspect” usually means “frown at before tossing into a trash bag.” But New Zealand didn’t take our French cheeses when we arrived there, so there’s hope for some things.
I’m not taking a chance on the frozen escargot, however. We forgot about them before we left New Caledonia or we would have had them then!
P.S. Do you remember that huge fish from yesterday? It wasn’t the only one. When I pulled in the hand line last night something had actually hit it hard enough to bend the hook! Yikes. Thar be monsters, indeed!
