Roratonga

We left Aitutaki yesterday at high tide, kissing the bottom several times on the way out. Still, it wasn’t bad. We motor sailed all the way and got to Avatiu Harbor, Avarua, Roratonga around 12:30 p.m. The seas were mild and wind very light on the passage. It was easy going. We’re in a very odd spot in the harbor too. Basically, we’re med-moored (Tahiti style) to a corner of the wharf. It about the only place we could go. Our stern faces the corner and we have two anchors off the front and all our fenders off the back. It took us an hour to anchor, but finally we’re dug in. We toured the town and it’s quite charming. There is a bit of traffic compared to Aitutaki, but the town is much more appealing than Papette. As we toured, the shops were closing. Tomorrow they’re only open until noon and everything is closed on Sunday. Monday is a holiday. The day off in celebration of the Queen’s Birthday. However, the actual celebration is Saturday, June 17. Go figure. We’ll see what we can get done tomorrow. We need diesel. We found out yesterday that our two jerry cans of fuel are gasoline not diesel. So, we have to get rid of the gas and fill the cans with diesel. Ferry them to the boat, fill the tank and repeat. We have taken care of our port and immigration paperwork so we can leave on Sunday or Monday. We didn’t want to wait for the holiday to be over for us to go on to Niue. We’re a bit behind our original schedule and are anxious to get going.