16 December 2016 0206 local time
Philippine Sea
05 45.253 N 144 36.091 E
7.1 knots speed through the water
5.0 speed over the ground
18 knots true wind speed
618 nautical miles to Palau

I am on watch. All is well aboard Complexity. We hope it is with you too. Jupiter is glowing above the horizon. My love gently sleeps below, snug in his sea berth. Orion hunts overhead as moonlit swells march southwestward hissing as they sweep under the boat. The tropical air is blissfully cooler at night!

We are making 7 knots through the water but the Equatorial Countercurrent is stealing away 2 knots of speed over the ground. We have been working our way northward all night in the hope of a less foul current, but so far have found a knot of increase in the eastward flowing current!

We have to watch for the reefs and shoals that lace this region of the Pacific Ocean. We had originally planned to stay south of the Equatorial Countercurrent but there was very little wind in those latitudes and not much in the forecast! We don't carry enough fuel to motor the whole way to Palau so appreciate the winds we have now after days of less that 5 knots! It has been running between 12 and 20 knots.

We have seen a lot of floating trash in the water in the Equatorial Countercurrent. Friends who have cruised Southeast Asia all comment on the abundance of plastic in the water there. I wonder how much of it comes from littering in the region and how much is carried on the powerful trade winds and currents from the east. We all share responsibility for the plastic polluting the world's oceans. On our Pacific crossing from America to Australia we found appallingly abundant plastic on the beaches of deserted islands in the vast reaches of the ocean far from populated places. We know the plastic is consumed by all manner of sea creatures with disastrous consequences for them and mankind. We can all do better, much better, at keeping plastic out of the water.

Our thoughts are drawn to beloved family and friends ashore and afloat. We wonder how things are going in your lives and the world at large. We receive almost no news while on passage. We have enjoyed each and every email we receive. We have been communicating via sat phone SMS with friends on Kate, also on passage from Kavieng, PNG to Koror, Palau. We have not been able to communicate with friends aboard Island Time but know they are sharing the same journey somewhere out there on the sea. You are all in our thoughts and hearts. We love receiving text only messages. We don't have the bandwidth for images or video.