December 5, 2007

Showers at Sea
It's been a couple of weeks since we had any rain fall where we were. Yesterday the sky was largely clear, brilliant blue, and last night even before the quarter moon rose at 3 in the morning, the stars gave fairly good visibility shining through a crystal clear atmosphere. The sea settled into a smoother, rolling swell, the wind fell off a bit, and we stopped getting much spray on deck. By this morning a crust of brine and salt covered everything outside the cabin, so we were hopeful when we saw a low line of cumulus cloud ahead. Finally light showers have materialized. Karen stayed out in the cockpit long enough to get a good rinse, eating her breakfast papaya as rain trickled gently down her face. Salt free and fed, she went to the bunk more cheerful than I've seen her for a couple of days. Of course with the sun glaring through the departing cloud we're now in the world's biggest sauna, but nothing's perfect. For now, it beats working in an air conditioned office. It's noon, and we're 30 miles from the corner of Mili Atoll, where we make our last course adjustment to approach Majuro. We're still making a bit better than 6 knots, so with 70 miles from Mili to Majuro we should see our destination at dawn tomorrow. That still leaves half a day of sailing to get around to the north side, into the lagoon, and then 12 miles east to the anchorage at Delap, but barring unforseen difficulties we could be cleared in by tomorrow afternoon. Life is good. Ted