Distance sailed in last 24 hours: 186 nm
Distance to Honokohau, Hawaii: 590 nm
Latitude: 18 56.168 N
Longitude: 146 25.539 W
COG: 270M
SOG: 7.2 kts under sail
Wind: 9 kts ENE
Seas: 3 ft E swell, 1 ft wind waves
Weather: 50% Cloud Cover
Barometric Pressure: 1015.4, steady
Sea Temperature: 75 F
< 600 nm to Honokohau!
We have gone two days now without any aquatic stowaways aboard Samadhi! Although we have seen plenty of flying fish, so far they have kept to their watery element and off of our decks. Perhaps this is natural selection at work. We find no way to account for the absence of the squid, and they aren't talking.
The cloud formations have been fascinating lately. Multiple layers of heavy clouds at different altitudes, some quite massive, have surrounded us. The uppermost layer is obviously windblown ice to a great degree. Closest to the ocean are the puffy cumulus clouds we see so many of, but now in groups. We feel sure that all of these clouds are trying to tell us something, we just don't know what it is! (Hopefully, it isn't "turn back!")
Our wind continues to slack off from duty at night. Usually, we have been able to maintain slow progress, but sometimes the swells cause the boat to roll and distort our sail shape. Trying to nurse the boat along at 5 knots at night, when there isn't a moon and the swells are bouncing you about, isn't much fun. Still, just at dawn the winds pipe up again, and the larger waves begin to return from seemingly out of nowhere. The sunrises have been particularly spectacular lately with fluffy purple clouds silhouetted against the high, pink and orange cirrus in the pale yellow and blue sky. There's no question that Kelly and Phillip are ready to have nights of undisturbed slumber again, but they'll miss the peace of these solitary moments in the vast expanse of the Pacific.
The boobies that were omnipresent at the start of our voyage have given way to another sea bird that we don't know by name. They are a smidgen smaller than the boobies and fly with the gently curving, concave wings of gulls in children's drawings. Their bodies are brilliant white, compact, and have hardly any tail to speak of. Their bright orange beak and black webbed feet strike a stark counterpoint to their plumage. For several minutes at a stretch, any number of these birds will sketch squawking circles around Samadhi, presumably riding the air currents we leave in our wake. We are all now thoroughly convinced of the fallacy of the "There are birds, so we must be near land." myth. Not a day has gone by without a sighting of our feathered friends, no matter how many hundreds or thousands of miles we are from the nearest patch of dirt.
With over a gallon of freshly squeezed lime juice available, Phillip decided to make up some ginger limeade. He didn't have a recipe, so he improvised one. Extraction of the fresh ginger was done by steeping sliced ginger in the simple syrup while it was being 'cooked'. The result is delicious, but not as 'ginger spicy' as Phillip wanted. Maybe the secret is to press fresh ginger, and avoid using heat extract it. This will bear further investigation.
For dinner, Kelly continued tweaking her recipe for homemade sloppy joes, this time served open-faced on Phillip's homemade bread. Absolutely delicious! The boys say they'd never even tasted them before this voyage, but they were quick converts. For dessert, we had another puffy pancake, using up four more eggs (yes!) in the process. We have been especially trying to use up our ground beef prior to arrival in Hawaii, and as of today it looks like we are nearing the end. We're hoping to have very little for Customs to confiscate when we arrive at Honokohau!
Phillip & Kelly have each just finished reading Richard Rhodes's fascinating, fairly technical history of the atomic bomb, The Making of the Atomic Bomb, written in the late '80's. (Thank you Leslie!) It is quite a tome, but even so, we can't recommend it highly enough. The stories of the aftermath of Little Boy in Hiroshima are unbelievably chilling. Our boys have each been reading stories of Jewish persecution by the Nazis as part of their Calvert curriculum (Ann Frank's Diary of a Young Girl and Number the Stars -- about Jewry in Denmark). Then, a few days ago, Alexander started playing a game on his Nintendo DS called "Panzer Tactics", which as one might guess, lets you battle Axis vs. Allies over Europe. All of this has offered quite an interesting opportunity for discussion about WWII and war in general. It seemed entirely appropriate in light of Memorial Day. Then, just as we were talking about the recent US actions in the Middle East (and Phillip's time there), the bo
at rolled suddenly, and from the galley below, we heard an awful crash!
We use Corelware (highly durable glass) dishes aboard Samadhi. A complete set came with the boat in a handy teak holder mounted on the wall, and we saw no reason to replace them. Corelware are known for their shatter resistance (Nobody says unbreakable anymore.), and they generally are. Living on a rolling boat leads to inevitable drops, and the dishes usually just bounce. However, sometimes if you drop one *just right* they will break. Oh boy! When Corelware breaks, it explodes like a bomb into a bazillion little razor-sharp shards. Corelware must have been initially developed as a weapon for the military. We spend tedious time crawling around and cleaning the deck 3 times to make sure that we get all of the glass up. Even after our best efforts, we find little glass splinters stuck in our feet. We've got a new slogan for them: "Corelware, be afraid!"
We had a few phone calls again yesterday, this time from Kelly's parents. Kathy called a couple of times, and then Pat called later in the evening. It had been about a week since we last spoke. Kathy was eager to talk about their arrival on Hawaii in time to be our welcoming committee and the progress of Cortney's wedding preparations. We also heard about the passing of a close family friend after his difficult, year-long battle against cancer. Our hearts go out to his widow and family in their time of grief.
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