Day 137 Departure

A kindly grouper
Mark had spoken to the captains of three other cruisers and determined that this was an ideal weather window for proceeding westward. I had just read in a cruising guide that sailing today has changed markedly due to the advent of better boats, more reliable engines, GPS navigation and satellite weather delivered via ham radio to on-board laptop computers. Today's cruisers tend to sail more by the onset of favorable weather because they now have better information on which to decide what looks best.
There is another of the periodic low pressure fronts forming in near Australia/New Zealand. This will move Eastward across the Pacific at about 40º South latitude and the winds that circle clockwise around it will cause wind and waves at our latitude (which is above 15º South latitude). If we leave now for American Samoa, we will be able to sail on the Southeast trade winds - meaning we will be going in the same direction as the wind. If we delay a few days, we may be met with Southwest winds circling the front and this would mean sailing into the wind. The sailing guide said that only racers and fools sail into the wind. Both times we have done that (from Manihi to Rangiroa and from Bora Bora to Rarotonga) we have had very rough conditions and have even had to turn around for several hours and "go with the wind" in order to recover from the bashing delivered by the waves. (see previous posts describing those passages).
I would liked to have staed in Suwarrow a few days longer to take advantage of the hospitality of the caretakers and to visit a bit more with Gato Go and Soul's Calling but the opportunity to make the next 4 to 5 day day passage on favorable winds was compelling enough to make an earlier departure an easy decision.
By mid-morning we had everything stowed and the anchor up so we said good-by to our friends via the VHF radio and headed for the pass. Three other boats had already departed and reported favorable conditions. As we were motoring out of the pass, we put the drag line in the water and before we reached the open sea, we had caught a small grouper. In this lagoon grouper are a pale pink color with light blue spots - a bit bizarre. At the barbecue two nights ago, someone had brought grouper so we knew we were in for a treat. Although this was a small fish, there was enough for one hearty dinner and a filling lunch the next day. I had made pita bread yesterday so we had a nice dinner of marinated fish from the grill in a pita pocket.