We made up good ground on the rest of the fleet overnight getting into Manapanga just after sunrise. Manapanga is a very deep harbour, with a dramatic backdrop of volcano’s, and with the buildings of the city rising up from the waterfront and into the volcanic hills behind. It reminds us of our harbour at home in Caboose. The biggest challenge here was finding a place that was shallow enough to anchor in as most of the harbour is around 200 metres deep or more and very steeply shelving.

The only mildly dismaying thing was that all the hotels and guesthouses appeared to be shut up for the night. I walked as far as the rail station, thinking I’d catch a train to Caboose, but the station, too, was dark and shuttered. I was standing wondering what to do when I noticed a grey light of television filling an upstairs window of a guesthouse across the road.