Day 22 = 89 nautical miles. We've found a nice little rhythm moving due south from where we crossed the equator. We've cruising along doing our 5 knots and trying to enjoy the ride. Can't go much faster due to our reduced sail area. Don's reading a book called 'Blue Latitudes' about a fellow who retraces Captain James Cook's voyages around the Pacific in the ship Endeavor. I'm reading Herman Melville's 'Typee' about an english seaman who jumps ship at Nuka Hiva (where we're going) and is taken hostage by a tribe who is known for their savage acts of cannibalism (so far they are treating him like a king - fattening him up?) Yesterday I made homemade yogart and today we made cookies. One of the boats we're traveling with, 'Southern Cross', Mark's wife Vicki is flying in to Nuka Hiva to meet them on Sunday. I am trying to figure out what materials are needed to fix our torn sail and hopefully Vicki will be able to pick up the supplies and bring them with her. We've heard there is a rigging/sail repair place on the wharf there but it could be completely different than what I would normally think of as a sail shop. We are in the Marquesas remember, not the big city of Tahiti, that's over two months from now. We've been told if you want to do it yourself, to lay the sail out on the beach and use sail tape and various other materials to get it ready for sewing. My mate Marni on Picara has a machine that can do the job unless the Nuka Hiva guy works out. The beaches in the Marquesas are supposedly infested with nono's (no-see-ums), awful biting flies, so this should be interesting. Well, nothing to worry about now, we've still got five or six days before we even get to see land again. Which reminds me...I've been asked if it bothers me being so far away from land. Not that much really. We've been living on Buena Vista for three years now and the boat has become our home. We're just playing house in an unusual place (that rocks back and forth). Whether we're 10 miles off the coast of Mexico or in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, I can still go down the companionway to the galley (kitchen) and make a cup of coffee, grab a book and laze out on the settee (couch) and relax. Now sometimes I've been a bit panicked when sea conditions were deteriorating and you know what I do to get a grip on myself...I go downstairs, make a cup of coffee, sit on the settee and relax with a book in my little home on the sea.