21 December 2016 1237 local time

07 13.405 N 139 29.896 E
Winds ENE 22 K Gusting 25 K
Seas 2.5 - 3.0 m 9 sec
Speed over the ground 7.5 k
60 nautical miles to Palau Lagoon eastern entrance

All is well aboard Complexity. We hope you and yours are also happy and well and enjoying holiday festivities.

We may dress the boat in Christmas lights after we are anchored in Palau weather permitting. I have a wee Christmas tree and some small Christmas decorations aboard. We learned from our Aussie friends that cold seafood and salads are perfect Christmas fare in places with hot December weather. I don't even want to think about making a traditional baked dinner aboard for Christmas. Lobster, prawns, crusty fresh bread and a crisp green salad sound especially nice.

It is a rough dark night. We have been running in 20-25 k of wind all day with building short steep seas. The winds are getting more easterly so I keep adding a bit of north to our course to keep the sails from flogging. We'll have to gybe a few times before we get to Palau. I see lightning to the SW. Hopefully that squall is being pushed away from us. The half moon behind us is providing just enough light to see any squalls coming our way before they get here.

There is an ugly low approaching from the SE with winds forecast to reach 50 knots. We expect to be in port before it reaches us. We'll clear in and find a snug anchorage to ride it out in a few days when it moves to the NW of Palau. It is too soon to know how close the low will get to Palau. The forecast says the probability of the low building into a typhoon is low. I hope the experts are right! We have been watching the weather closely. Thanks Heather, Steve and Larry for passing on additional details of the forecast low. We are glad our friends aboard Kate are SE of the low and hope Island Time is already in Palau.

It will be nice to be in Palau after two weeks at sea. Our passage, as expected, has been slow due to light winds, a foul current and the need to go north to pick up some winds instead of tracking right down the rhumb line to Palau.