Greetings, Another day in the ITCZ. Today began with hot hot sunshine. As soon as the sun rose it was hot! We stopped the boat for a swim and found ourselves once again in the middle of the ocean swimming around our boat. Kurt and I worked on tightening up the stays that hold our bowsprit. That is the 11 foot carbon fiber pole that sticks out the front of the boat that the screecher and spinnakers fly from. Today the water was 87 degrees! Soon we were under cloud cover and then it began to rain. It was a nice relief. Later in the day we saw a school of spinner dolphins. Unlike the dolphins we have seen before who always come over and play near the boat, these dolphins were small and shy. We did see them jumping out of the water and doing 4 or 5 spins before landing in the water again.

Later in the afternoon we found ourselves motoring into 15 knots of wind from the south. It was fairly uncomfortable and is still making things pretty bouncy now at 2:00 AM. I think we are all ready to move on to the next experience of a lifetime. Arriving in the Marquesas! But that is still 10 or so days off.

Talking to some other sailboats tonight we are hearing that there is good wind about 120 miles south of us. At this pace that means at least another 24 hours of motoring, but every day the conditions seem to change so we shall see.

Sandy, our landfall is planned for Hiva Oa. We plan to visit Fatu Hiva after visiting some other Marquesan islands.

Sorry about the picture of Endless Summer with no mast. Manjula uploaded a couple of nice pictures tonight of some of the cloud formations we are seeing. And I think a picture of the two of us enjoying rum and hoo hoo on the front porch.

Blessings to all. Steve