One of the things I expected to love about this particular voyage was a sense of solitude - no land in sight, the ocean uncluttered by boats, fair winds, and warm sunny skies. And that is very much how its been so far! The last time we saw any boats on the horizon was on our 3rd day at sea. So we feel like we're getting away from it all, knowing that there are approximately 20 'buddy boats' within miles of us in every direction, but completely out of sight. And we're all headed to the Marqueses. We're surrounded by miles and miles of bright blue sea, our scenery peppered with frequent displays of flying fish skimming the waves, their silver 'wings' shimmering in the sun, and various kinds of sea birds. Unfortunately, the birds seem to really love our boat. They are constantly circling our mast, hoping to sit on top of it for a 'birds eye view' of the fish in the sea below. So far they've been unable to land successfully - which makes us very happy, as they could interfere with our wind vane. Yesterday Tom looked up at the bimini from the cockpit and noticed a bird-shaped shadow. It lay motionless for long enough that I assumed it had hit the wind generator like its unfortunate counterpart a few days prior. Travelling with a dead rotting bird on the boat was a disgusting concept - and Tom came to the rescue with a boat hook to scoop it off. He hoisted himself up to the edge of the bimini and leaned over to get a good look at the bird. Just as he swung his boat hook up, the bird lifted its head and glared at Tom for disturbing him from what was apparently an afternoon nap! He begrudgingly flew off after Tom stared him down. Bye bye birdie!! As far as the sailing goes, we just switched from sailing wing on wing with the genoa and main to a broad reach with our staysail and reefed main, largely because we noticed cloud cover ahead which what appeared like potential rain.. We adjusted our course to run high of the potential weather, and are enjoying a great ride at 6 - 7 knots.