Loose Pointer is coming! Yeah! Among other things, their imminent arrival provides the perfect excuse to not leave today.

We were supposed to leave today. That was the plan, at least. The weather is perfect for a sail to Palmerston North or Beveridge Reef or maybe even all the way to Tonga. We were going to up anchor, head out the pass, and continue our journey west safe in the knowledge that the low and the trough had passed and a nice moderate high was setting up to the south ensuring standard or slightly reinforced trades for days and days and days.

But Mera and Aeron want to build an extra room on to their fort as well as extend the path all the way to the beach.

And Jaime wants to see if she can improve her fire cooking skills with chicken and dumplings and fruit baffs tonight.

And DrC is contemplating ways to catch parrot fish from the beach.

And I still haven't found a mango tree. I know there must be one here if I can just find it. We've found some really nice aluminum pots perfect for a solar oven and cooking in the fire. If I just keep poking around, I'm sure we'll stumble on fruit trees.

And Loose Pointer is coming. They might have spare propane and vegetables. We've agreed to trade them 80' of high test chain for a bag of bokchoy and a cabbage. From where we are at the moment, that feels like a super good deal.

For us.