We tried to stop in at Lifou in the Loyalty Islands but I don't think it was meant to be. First of all we had no water coming out of the engine when we went to start it, it is a marina there so we needed the engine to maneuver around. Barry got that fixed and then a big squall came up so we slowed down so we would not get blown around when we got in, then we discovered a rip in our main sail so that was it, the place had three chances and it was no go, so we are continuing on to Noumea, the capital of New Caledonia. Our mainsail has been developing a number of small tears lately. I told Barry before we left New Zealand that we needed to buy a new main in Australia and he was adamant that it was just new (we bought it in 2005) and it had lots of life left in it, hmmm!!
ANYWAY, we are having a great sail at the moment, double reefed main, staysail and about half a genoa and we are comfortably doing 7 knots, whoopee. The sun just came up, Barry is sleeping and life is good.