1. Passage
to Marquesas emails
2.
Marquesas
3.
Tuamtou
June 29,
2008
Marlin
Way
We are on our
way to Tahiti. It's a 2 night/3 day passage
going down wind. Really
can't complain about that.
The temp is cool enough that Paul and I have long sleave
shirts and pants on.
That is one thing I failed to mention is the incredible
temperature around here.
At night we are usually dressed and with sheets on. I sometimes have to close my
window!!!! We have meet
a few new cruisers from France and
England. All of us have caught huge
Marlins on our lines.
We almost lost everything today but when it jumped we lost
it. There is no way we
would have been able to get that monster in. The French couple got two
Marlin and everything (lure and line). So, we have decided to name
this section Marlin way.
We should be in Tahiti tomorrow early
morning. That would be
6 hours later for you guys on the East coast. So, while you are digesting
your lunch, we will just be watching the sun rise and coming into
port. We were going to
opt out of Tahiti since it's just
a large industrial port and we really didn't need anything but then
we got wonderful news that Alex and Kristin will be coming to visit
in Bora
Bora and now I want
to get some good stuff!!!!!
YEAH!
We have just
learned that a friend of ours that we didn't think to bump into
again is here in Papeete,
Tahiti. Not sure if you remember I
mentioned the Australian family, Da Mojo, on the 47 ft Catana that
we met in Bocas Del
Toro,
Panama... We also heard they were
cruising with another family from the
US with kids the
same age as ours and have the same exact boat...imagine that! Hope to meet them for the
kids sake. They love to
make new friends.
Hope all is going well with you... Hey, by the way, what's in
the news??? Who is the
Democrat candidate?
It's MaCain on the republican side, right? Anything else I should
know? Been so far away
from the news...


June 25,
2008
The
island of
Tahanea,
Tuamotu
This island has gotten more Wow's out of us than any
other. We arrived here
about four nights ago and we spent the first three near the passe
(entrance) of the atoll.
The wind was almost non existent which made the water like
glass. This is the
clearest water I have ever seen. We opted not to snorkel
around here since we have had a heavy shark presence!!!! But, we did go fishing in
the passe. We started
in about 80 foot of water and could see our bait go all the way to
the bottom and we could see the fish hitting the bait. The fish here are huge
and plentiful considering that there is about 30 boats that visit
every year and a small group of copra growers that come for the
short season. Every
time we caught a fish (which was every drop) we had to change
locations since the reef sharks started to group in the area. The second time we moved I
spotted a big shark near the surface and almost choked...It was a
VERY LARGE Tiger shark.
He was gracefully moving along as we circled him. We were all, happily,
enjoying him from the view of our dingy! As we got in front of the
passe (entrance) the tide was slowly taking us out and we caught
grouper...after snapper...after grouper. We even spotted two big
tunas in 80 foot of water but they are the Dogtooth tuna. A species that are usually
found in passes, and deep lagoons. They, unfortunately, didn't
hit our baits. But, I
have to say, I couldn't imagine having one of those on my spinning
rod trying to land it on the dingy!

The winds kicked
up dramatically the night before last and our glassy water and calm
anchorage when to a very bumpy one. The wind was around 20 knots
from the SE coming from
the opposite side of the atoll so we had a good wind chop. We heard from another boat
that there was some beautiful beaches on the SE end of the atoll so
by morning we were up and at it. 5 miles and 10 reef patches
later we had beautiful beaches, calm water to anchor and no
sharks! We played on
the beaches and couldn't get our selves to leave. Every turn of the motu was
something different.
One side was bright blue water with beaches while the other
side was exposed reef with the tide water rushing in and felt like
you were walking on the moon.
The effect was incredible. Paul and I saw the
endangered Tuamotu sandpiper.
Apparently, there are only about 100 left in existence and
are able to live here since there are no rats on the islands. We love it here so much that
we are thinking about passing on visiting Tahiti and spending
more time here but our plans change constantly so I will keep you
posted.
June 22,
2008
4 Black tip Salut
We arrived in Tahanea, Tuamotu this afternoon at high
sun and were welcomed by incredible beauty. The water is clear and
bright blue. We were
all excited to reach this untouched piece of paradise. No one lives here!!!! I take that back, Sharks
live here! While I was
dropping anchor in front I heard the yells from the kids,
"Sharks". Not one, Not
two, NOT THREE but 4 black tip sharks wanted to stop in an say
welcome to their piece of the reef. It was so much fun to watch
them swim around the boat and grab some great pictures. I dipped my hand into the
water with the camera but got a bit freaked out when they started
coming towards my hand in different directions. I got a couple good pictures
and video. We got the
kayak, careful not to tip over, and headed to the beach. The Hermit crabs here are
the size of your hand.
We are in search for nice, yummy, coconut crabs to go with
dinner but not tonight.
Hamburgers are on the menu. Need a break from all the
seafood.

June 21,
2008
We are on the move
again....
We have finally
heaved our anchor that was tangled in a web of rocks below and set
out to a new home.
Leaving was just as nerve racking as it was coming in. The sun was in my face and I
couldn't read the water.
There are reefs everywhere inside the atoll and you have to
come into the pass at a certain direction. Hitting ground is not a
option around here or in my book! When we got to the pass the
water was rushing out of the atoll. This is the only cut in the
whole circular reef.
Water rushes in and out at a speed of 8 knots...yes, I said
8. That is about how
fast our boat goes under power! We did just fine and I was
ready to throw in a line just as we cleared and drink a beer. Paul did mention something
like sails first and it's only 8
am and I said,
"Oh, yeah".

We will be underway for about 28 hours, downwind. Our current wind is about 10
knots so we are motor sailing to get in at a decent hour. We need to time the tides in
the atolls to be able to get in or out (as mentioned
above).
Yesterday, we
went fishing and Paul caught a very large Camouflage grouper to add
to our collection in the bucket. Maybe because it was a full
moon but the sharks were out!
First, Seanna spotted a big black tip circling the dingy when
we were getting in and then the first grouper we pulled in got eaten
by a shark and I had a fish on at the same time so I was really
pulling fast to get my big snapper in. We also saw tons of Sharks
prowling the shallows of the reefs.
Pierre, I wish you
were here!!!!! You
would just love the friggen fishing around here. I made a cornmeal crusted
grouper for lunch yesterday that was to die for... Today we caught a Tuna and I
cooked that up for dinner.
Paul put me on fish probation in the kitchen...I guess fish
everyday for lunch is okay but throwing it in for dinner was tops
for him. Seanna and
Paul were both wishing for my traditional Cheeseburger
underway. I promised
them both fresh baked rolls with juicy cheeseburgers for dinner
tomorrow night. The
Tuna was darn good tonight so Paul didn't complain to much. I made a Thai peanut sauce
for the noodles and then I cut the tuna in squares added sesame oil
and hoisen and threw them in a very hot pan for a few seconds. The fish topped the noodles
and put the sauce over the top. I was going to add green
peppers and chopped cabbage but they were both growing hair in the
fridge so I had to make it simple. I am down to my last carrot
then all we have is canned.
Rough life, eh!
June 17,
2008
Remora
Bay
My favorite part
of traveling like this is all the different cultures we have come
across. Having children
and visiting less traveled spots have also given us a much warmer
welcome. Just
yesterday, a local name Gilles, that we befriended here on the
island of
Rarioa, came to visit
with his 2 friends on their unique style Kayaks (total atoll
population about 75).
It is long and sleek with a little pontoon off the side for
stability. He jumped
out of it and made me race the others. I had such a blast. He is about my age and both
arms are covered with the local style tattoos. He is into fitness and
eating what comes from the land and the ocean...which means, fish,
crab and coconuts. Two
days ago another local caught wind that I had a stalk of bananas on
the boat and came over to present me with a beautiful black pearl
about the size of a nickel.
All he wanted was 8 bananas!!!!! Nuts!!! He invited us to go visit
his other island here on the atoll to go spear fishing and hunting
for big coconut crabs.
Unfortunately, it was pouring rain and we had to pass but he
came back after and gave us a huge surge grouper, two spotted
unicorn fish and three large coconut crabs. He free dives up to about 75
feet for the groupers and says he has to get the fish out quick
before the sharks see him (he already lost 3 spear guns to the
sharks in the past and doesn't want to lose anymore). Even after all that he still
gives some fish to us....they are so giving. The fish here are much
different than I am used to.
It's a lot of fun to go snorkeling to see the different
species they have but the darn sharks still spook me. We saw three sharks in a 20
minute snorkel off a reef right by the boat. Makes you think what else it
out there.


Today, we went
and did some fishing on the dingy and caught two nice
Ambon snappers and
two camouflage groupers.
I guess you can guess what we had for lunch! We will leave here when the
wind blows us and plan to head to Tahanea, Tuamotu. It is about 180 miles from
here. It is an
uninhabited atoll that we heard was just spectacular. Gilles jokes with us about
the size of the coconut crabs that we will get there...he says it's
the grandpa's. Since no
one lives on this atoll he said just be ready for really big fish
and crabs. YUM!
The view here is
just picture perfect.
We are in a lagoon about 10 miles long and 5 miles wide. It is completely surrounded
by a reef and has some patches of land with palm trees. We are anchored in between
two reefs in the lagoon and have a beach and palms just behind where
the sun sets. Every
picture I take still make me sigh! There are a about 40 atolls
in the Tuamotu and not all have a pass to get into them and not even
half are populated. You
are really on your own out here! This atoll just started a
Pearl farm 9 years
ago and before that they never had a plane land on the island. We have been here for a week
and have not seen another boat. Our friends, BeBe, went to
an atoll that was an easier passage and easier to get into but they
have not had the same experience we have. Sometime you really must
"pay your dues" to experience something incredible.
P.S. We
nicknamed this place remora bay since we are loaded with Remoras
under the boat...Where there are remoras there are sharks.... For those of you who asked
me what a remora is...It's a shark sucker. They are the fish that
attach themselves to sharks.
June 13,
2008
Kura
Ora
I guess I will be learning a new
way to say hello in every set of islands we go to. We finally made it to our
destination and happy to be just relaxing.
Speaking French
has been a big advantage to us really enjoying the people and the
island. Everyone speaks
French and their local language. Yesterday we went for a tour
of the Pearl farm here. The S. Pacific are known for
the most expensive black pearls. We watched the whole
operation and was quite impressed. I can now see why they are
expensive. I am not a
huge pearl lover so it's not a must have for me but a local man who
harvest his own gave me a couple as a gift. It was really nice. They are very giving people
and don't ask for much but love to receive. Funny thing is I traded for
a stalk of bananas that were too big for just us and Paul said,
"what are we going to do with all of those" when we were still in
the Marquesas. The
locals here came up to the boat and you can see them eyeing them
with watering mouths so I have been passing them out. They are soooo excited. They live off fish,
coconuts, rice, flour for bread and that is all. Not much variety but them
seem content with that.
They can't grow much but cucumbers and melons since it's just
sand and rock. Speaking
of cucumbers...we have never seen so many sea cucumbers in one
place. One the beach
there are hundreds of them and Paul saw the biggest one he has ever
seen (about 4 feet long and 1 foot thick).

Paul has nicknamed this section of the atoll "Remora
bay" because we are swarmed with Remoras. My motto is...where there
are remoras there are sharks, yikes. The local here name Gilles
told me the are used to humans on this side of the atoll but on the
unpopulated end they are more curious. They like to come up to you
and bump you...OH great!!!
Thanks for the info...Now I AM NOT JUMPIN IN!!!!!! AUUUGGGHHHHH. Paul went snorkeling
yesterday and right when he got into the water he popped back up and
said, "Black tip". I
will really have to work against my fear cause the reef and tropical
fish look really nice from up top.
The wind has calmed down and we plan on getting some
much deserved R&R after that rough passage.
June 11,
2008
Thank you all so much for the beautiful birthday
wishes. My birthday
isn't one for the memory books, though! It has been a rough and we
are taking a beating out here.
It is a 350 mile passage to this set of islands. To get to the nice ones that
are not as populated you need to take a harder beat into the wind
and waves. We decided
to go for it. We have
been double reefed on the main and triple reefed on the gib. Even with that little sail
out we can go up to 8 knots.
Tonight the wind has been steady at 28 to 30 but it is
supposed to settle...
It did last night and we thought we would have a nice rest of
our passage but that was just wishful thinking. The kids have been real
troopers. We are
looking forward to seeing land this morning. The kids had a
celebration...Yeah, one more sleep and we get to the beach. I just look around and think
of how much I need to clean up. The window in the guest room
was windward and just found out it was leaking. The bed is saturated with
salt water....Gee, I love sailing. hehe.
A congrats to
you Nataly on your graduation.
I am so happy for you.
You can come celebrate your graduation out here in
Tahiti!!! :).
I will write you more when I get there.
P.S. In case any
of you want to google where we are going it's an island called
Raroia. You will
probably get something back also on Kon Tiki. The raft that a swedish man
named Thor Heyerdahl sailed from
Peru back in the
40's to prove migration.
He ran aground here and it was the end of his trip. I have the book
somewhere....I will try and find it and read
it.
June 8,
2008
Ka O ha,
How many
languages can you say hello???? Ka O'ha, I am spelling it
the way it sounds. We
spent the past three nights on Oa Pou, Marquesas. The passage to here was
downwind with very steep waves about 8 to 10 feet. We sailed very comfortably
until we rounded the south side of the island then we had some
strong wind gust from the mountains and then as we rounded the point
to our anchorage we were on the nose with steep waves (luckily, it
only lasted about 10 minutes).
The anchorage looked opened and exposed but as we rounded the
bend we didn't care what the conditions were...the view was
incredible. Hard to
describe but it is large mountains with large "tiki's" sticking up
to the clouds. They are
very tall and steep points that shoot out of the mountain reaching
up into points that touch the clouds and sometimes hidden by
them. We heard there
were a few rock climbers that came out one year and reached the top
on the steepest one.
Not the kind of thrill I am willing to look for but amazed
that someone can. Well,
like I mentioned earlier, the anchorage was a bit rolly so we
planned on spending our day on land and "scope it out". Not even 2 minutes down the
road and a local by the name of Holler-pronounced Ho'LEr (real name
Hokaupoko) He is 28 and both arms are full on local tattoos and
looks like a surfer. He
invites us to his home and we accept. We climbed the mountain to
his flat that over looks the bay. Most locals here have a
kitchen/dining area outside the house. We sat and chit chatted
about how beautiful the view was and other things when he just
started cooking. So,
he's a cute surfer looking guy and he likes to cook, wow! He even showed us his "Herb"
garden and used some for lunch. We got to his house at
10am and we didn't
get back to the boat till 8pm. We had such a great
time.


Maybe the boys
had to much "Herb and beer" cause they made plans to go fishing the
next morning at 6am. Did I say it was windy and
rough. Oh well, I am
staying on the boat with the kids so it's up to them. We will be up at Holler's
house again today.
We are now underway to the Tuamotus islands about 300+
miles south of the Marquesas and it's a bit rough. We are trying to get to
there during daylight hours so we are only doing 6 knots. As I was typing this last
line a 40 knot gust of wind in front of a squall hit us. Good thing we were already
reefed in the main and had about handkerchief of gib out. Sounds like this is a normal
occurrence out here but it's a first for us. I am happy we were
prepared.
June 1,
2008
You are all on my mind today and Grandma is in my
heart. I hope that
everyone was able to say goodbye in their own way. Today, the kids and I looked
at pictures of Grandma and talked about her.
We are still at
Manta
Bay (so we have
named it) but it's actually something completely different. Every morning the mantas are
out if full force.
Today I swam with two bigger ones. I tried to bring my camera
but they were kinds shy today and it was murky. We were only going to stay
here two nights but can't get ourselves to lift the anchor. Today we went out bottom
fishing with the dingy and caught an 2 nice Peacock Groupers, 2 Red
snappers, 1 Humpback snapper, and 1 yellow lip Emperor all in the
matter of 1 hour. And
the fish were not small, my wrist hurts from pulling the rod
up!!! It was fun! When we go fishing we always
drift out since the wind is pretty strong lately. On every drift, we caught a
fish or two and then a big manta would swim by. I asked Paul to pinch me to
make sure I wasn't dreaming.
We are getting the kids back on a routine and
discipline. We have
slacked in the past two months. We have started school and
will start Monday and do the week. Merric is starting to buck a
bit in school now and looses interest but everyday it's 10 minutes
longer. Seanna is a bit
slow on the letters but blows Merric away in Math. Paul was shocked today when
I had him do a drill with the kids. Seanna kept blurting out the
correct answers while Merric was whining. But, then when it comes to
letter and reading Merric has always been stronger. I will work on their
strengths and weaknesses to make them great! I have to learn not to get
frustrated and just move on or stop for a break and then start with
something else. Merric
has been stuttering like crazy and we are trying to get him to slow
down. Genevieve, if you
can talk to your speech therapist to see if there are any exercises
we can do. I am doing
great! probably the
best I have ever been.
I am really happy that we made the jump. I was really getting tired
of Panama and needed some
new excitement. Every
set of islands we are going to are so different. The Marquesas are high
mountains with dramatic views, the tuamotu island are low and
surrounded by reefs, then we get to bora bora and Tahiti and it's
high mountains again but these are surrounded by reefs that circle
the island. Very
cool. I love being with
my family and just us.
We have not even said hello to the boats in the anchorage
cause we are all enjoying our time together. Funny how we all feel the
same. Seanna literally
jumped off the dingy by herself today to swim with the mantas and
then we couldn't get her back in. Merric and Paul say a 5 foot
black tip shark...good thing it wasn't me but I better start getting
used to them cause they are abundant out here. No spear fishing for
Paul!!!! Momma won't allow that! Unless, I am just above him
in the dingy at all times and he bring the fish up ASAP then we move
locations. Can't be to
careful.
I better stop rambling or this email will never get
out.
May 30,
2008
We have been really enjoying out stay so far in the
Marquesas. Today was
one for the memory books...
We are at a nice
little beach with big surf.
Yesterday we took the kayak to the beach and didn't time it
right...we ended up taking a nose dive right into the beach and
flipped. The kids
thought that was fun! I
just wanted to make sure we didn't get hit by the kayak. We couldn't
stop laughing.
Afterwards, Paul went into the bush behind the beach and came
back with a few dozen limes, two grapefruits and a nice big
coconut. What a garden
of Eden!

I woke up this morning to one big happy family and as
I was enjoying my coffee outside I notice a few swirls in the
water. I said, "Paul,
look at the fin". I
wasn't sure if it was a shark or a manta. Of course, I was really
hoping for Mantas cause my dream is to swim with them. So, Paul, being the brave
soul that he is got into the kayak and paddled over. I watched as he carefully
tried to snorkel and peek under to see what it was. I am guessing if it was a
big shark he wasn't interested in swimming with it but as he got
further away and all of a sudden he jumped I was getting my gear
ready. After waiting
for about 10 minutes he came back with a huge smile on his
face. He said there was
5 to 6 Mantas and they were swimming around and coming right for him
before turning off. Oh
my god!!!! My dream come true.
He brought us to the place and I jumped in with my
babies. Wow! Wow! they
started swimming around us and Seanna had a major death grip on me
while Merric was just in awe.
I was speechless.
One of them flipped over and show us his belly just under our
feet while most of them would come right for us. We were right in the middle
of the plankton so they would just circle us. I was too happy to cry! Just beautiful. They had about a 6 foot wing
span and were dark blackish gray on top and white on the
undersides. They stayed
around for a few hours and I could have spent the whole day watching
them.
Just before lunch time I asked Paul if we could go
fishing with the dingy and try to catch fish for lunch. We headed out of the
anchorage and saw a few birds circling. Paul cast out a line with a
hook and tuna for bait.
Not even 30 seconds later Paul got a hit and a Mahi Mahi flew
out of the water.
WOW! We started
to head back into the anchorage to try and fish for snapper and an
even larger Manta came by the dingy. The wing span on this one
was about 10 feet. I am
not making this up guys...I am just as shocked writing this... We had Poisson Cru and Mahi
on the grill for lunch.
Paul loved my Poisson Cru so much we went back out fishing at
sunset and caught another large snapper for lunch tomorrow. What we are catching is
called a (or so my book states) Yellow lip Emperor. If anyone wants to google it
for me to see if it's edible before we eat too much of them please
do.
We are trying to decide if we are going to move
tomorrow but we are in no rush. We just got here and stopped
moving.
May 27,
2008
We are on a
little island just off Hiva
Oa and have been
enjoying the beach and getting fresh limes and grapefruits out of
the trees. BeBe is
still around and have went over to Fatu Hiva which is just
beautiful. We were
boarded today by the customs and they went through a bunch of
stuff. Luckily, they
didn't find our rum or we would have lost most of that!!!!!
May 26,
2008
This is what we sailed 4000 miles for! We arrived in Fatu Hiva at
7:30
am. The scene was dramatic,
steep, foggy and mystic.
We rounded the corner expecting to see a village but what we
saw was more steep volcanic rock. Three boats were anchored
off the village which we couldn't see in the little slit of a valley
they lived in. Once we
dropped the dingy and pulled behind a steep rock did we see the
village.
Amazing....just like the people. We quickly made friends with
other boats and local families. We found our best bargaining
power came from our beer and rum. We traded for beautiful
Pareos, wood carvings and huge grapefruits. This place is like the
garden of Eden with fruit and flowers everywhere you turn. The day we arrived they were
having a celebration...how lucky were we! They had the girls dressed
up in their grass skirts, heads surrounded by wonderful flowers and
the band played with hand made instruments. They danced and sang for us
for about an hour.
Click, Click goes the camera!!!!!


Last night we
had dinner at the family we befriended...Poisson Cru, boiled
bananas, breadfruit, coconut milk chicken, rice and a wonderful
lemon cake. Just
wonderful people!!!!!
We are on our way to Hiva
Oa as I
type...will fill you in on that later.
May 24,
2008
When you get
this email we will have one more day left before we arrive in Fatu
Hiva, Marquesas. Yes, I
am still out here (19 days)!
I know it seems like forever ago I said we were on our
way. The excitement is
over but the anticipation has started. I am ready to get there and
stop the movement. 3823
miles done since we left panama and 160 left to go. We have decided to slow down
our pace at a whopping 4 knots so that we will arrive during
daylight hours Friday morning.
We are now 4 hours ahead of
Florida and when we
reach the Marquesas we need to go back another 1/2 hour. It's the only place we know
of that changes their time zone by half. The time change is what me
feel even further away.
Things here have
been slow since we caught the 50 lb tuna. Just today, Paul was allowed
to put the lines in for Mahi or Wahoo and we had two strikes but no
takers. There was a
sigh of relief and no one even jumped up to see what it might
be. We made an
incredible Coquille St. Jacques with Tuna, clams, escargot,
mushrooms and green beans.
It was awesome!!!
We are living large on the high seas and my freezer is still
fully stocked. We were
laughing at the table setting cause we never pictured ourselves
having lunches like this...white wine in a wine glass sitting on the
table with full table setting, outside with the sails up. It has been paradise and
truly has been "pacific".
Oh, I also made an incredible balsamic roasted pepper sauce
to go with our grilled Tuna
yesterday...Pierre remind me to
make you this one day!!!!

Some very sad news came my way yesterday that my grand
mother passed away. On
that same day, just as I was sitting down for dinner, an amazing
shooting star came down right in front of me. It had a red tail behind it
that lasted a few seconds.
It was still quite early in the night to see them and the
moon was full so we didn't expect that. We called it a sign from her
saying goodbye. I will
miss her terribly....
Our current position is 9.51 S 136.06 W for any of you that
are tracking us on Google earth.
May 16,
2008
The weirdest thing happened to me while I was in line
at Starbucks this morning.
There was this older bearded guy in front of me ordering and
picking up his cup of coffee when I looked beyond and the guy behind
the counter look sooo familiar. As the older guy when out
the door I stepped up to place my order. The man behind the counter
looked at me with smiling eyes and tilted his head to the side. Hum, maybe he knows me
too. Feeling the heat
between us I started to get a little nervous and decided to break
the tension and place my order. "I'll have a double, grande,
skim, caramel macchiato, extra hot, with whipped cream", I said in
my sexy just woke up voice.
I never broke eye contact and completed my line but now he
was looking at me like I lost my marbles. Wait, that wasn't the
expression I was working for... He didn't say a word but
started to back away from the coffee machine. I said, "wait, I have money
to pay for that".
Again, he had these eyes on me that said a million words and
started to grab my favorite coffee cup. What? What? I started to
feel self consious, do I have a booger in my nose, is there sleep in
my eyes, What? The guy
behind the counter said, "Wake up Michele, we are 3000 miles in the
middle of nowhere." He
then placed a warm cup of strong, bitter coffee in my hand and said,
"This is the closest thing to starbucks
honey".

Things here are still the same. We are offically 2/3
done. We have less than
1000 miles to go.
Oh, and we caught two more Mahi Mahi yesterday….Yeah
more fish on the menu. UGH!
7.17.56S
124.01.60W
May 14,
2008
We are still
chasing the sun and in search for the perfect sunset. We have seen two green
flashes but I have yet to have a sunset top the one I loved the most
in the Bahamas. Our days are just routine
out here but I am starting to look forward to getting there. SOOOOOOO much water out
here. We have spotted a
two Japanese fishing boats out here with long lines. Wow, talk about a long way
to get tuna for sushi.
I remember watching a documentary on the over fishing of Tuna
near their shore lines.
Well, if that is true they are now going over 6000 miles to
fish.
We have about 6 more days out here.... I really can't complain
since the wind has been light and the ocean is almost flat. Yesterday, I cleaned up a
few compartments and wiped out a couple cabinets. We have to keep an eye open
for mold on the boat since the humidity gets into our clothes and
things and creates a perfect home for mold. So far, we have been doing
great. We run the air
every few days to dry out the boat and sheets.
I can officially say I am addicted to Sudoku. Gerry taught me how to do it
and everyday I try to complete one or more. I am now on Medium!!!!
The kids have been doing great using their
imagination, doing school, playing together and watching movies down
below. I haven't given
Merric any seasick medicine for the past 10 days. I gave him one pill since we
left the Galapagos and I am not sure if he was really sick or just
tired since it was the evening. I am so happy since that was
the main thing keeping me up at night before we left. I didn't want to have to
drug up my son the whole way.
He has actually outdone me in being able to go down below in
the bedroom to watch a movie when it's really rough. AMAZING! Seanna on the other had is
our just pure entertainment and sass! She runs the show here and
that's the truth. Man,
I love my kids.

Tonight is going
to be an easy night with light winds and following seas. The pacific is just
great! I am so happy we
came. I wrote in my
personal journal the other day on how I used to fear the night
watches and dread them.
Fear things I can not control like weather, whales, semi
submerged containers ect...
But, I had to put it into perspective. I didn't fear going on 1-95
everyday to Miami for work and
there are more chances of a serious car accident than anything
happening out here.
It's amazing how things change... I now look forward to
them. The day the last
locks opened up at the panama canal was like my rebirth. I don't want to be plagu