Hotter Water

0800 Position 7-29S 137-04W. Days run 185 miles. 201 miles to go to Fatu Hiva.

The idyllic South Seas cruise weather ended yesterday. Water temperature got up to 87, the wind died, and it rained. It was stifling hot below during the day, the hottest I can remember at sea, and the sun was unmerciful on deck. The wind trended lighter and lighter as the day progressed. The squalls that rolled through sucked up what little wind remained and we slatted as they moseyed past us. This weather wasn't forecast yesterday, but today's gribs show a weak low pressure system moving through which matches what we saw. When I came up on deck this morning at 2AM the skies had cleared, our wind had returned, water temperature was down to 85 degrees and we were back to postcard sailing under a nearly full moon.

The slow going wasn't a problem. It had looked like we were going to make landfall during the night which isn't good, and with the slow going yesterday it now looks like we will arrive at about sunrise on Monday. Perfect.

It was calm enough last night to fire up the barbeque to cook hamburgers for dinner, a nice treat at sea. We've also been sliding on our dry ship policy. There is cold beer in the reefer and it just seems wrong to let it sit there in this heat. Besides, hamburgers taste better with beer.

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