Our plans to shop and do laundry today were quickly changed this morning. A fishing boat tied up just behind us and then informed us that we were in his spot!! Oh, well. After some discussion in sign language, broken English and broken Japanese he accepted that we would stay one night and move on tomorrow and gave us a fresh skipjack tuna to seal the deal. THEN we checked the weather. Today was better than tomorrow for moving south but only as far as Koniya - it didn't look that good for doing an overnight to Okinawa on Wednesday. Jon finished topping the fuel tank from the jerry cans while Pam got everything sorted for departure. The lines were tossed aboard and we left about 8:30. With 38 NM to go we reckoned we could be there by 5.00 at the latest making allowances for adverse current and still have time up our sleeve. Hopefully no later. However, for once luck was with us - the wind was about 10-15 NE, from behind, the current was not too strong and we were averaging over 6 knots. How long would it last? Surprisingly, it all went well. Even when we made our way into the Amami Straits with a flood tide pushing against us it did not slow us down very much and we arrived off Koniya just on 3:00 p.m. We delayed our entry due to the low almost-spring tide but it was not a problem. We were met by Kasai, a local yachtie, who we met last year when we were here. Shortly after an American couple on a boat called Shibui from Seattle knocked on the hull. They were anchored across the Straits and had been here to go shopping. It was great to be able to meet another pair of cruising yachties to have a good old chat with!!Position: 28°08'N 129°18'E
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