We're now 70 miles from Beveridge Reef, and should arrive at first light in the morning. We've been following Brian, Greg, Tiffany and Lushka on the trawler Furthur, who left a day before us, and in our radio conversation with them tonight we learned that they didn't like the looks of things at Beveridge and passed it by. Earlier today he said the winds were still blowing 20 knots and it looked rough both inside and outside the reef. So they're on their way directly to Nuie. We will continue, and hope the forecast for diminishing winds holds true. If things don't look good, we still have enough lettuce for another spectacular salad and can continue on to Nuie as well, arriving Saturday morning.

We've been making such good time that we had to take the jib sail down to slow our speed so as to arrive after sunrise. With Paikea Mist ahead of us, it's hard to resist that innate challenge to try and catch them, futile as that may be, and it feels odd to purposely slow down.

It's been a mellow day -- I caught up on my sleep and felt quite energetic, and Allan felt a lot better than the previous two days. I actually did a bit of on board exercising, and washed some carpets, organized my email list, wrote a bunch of notes to family, and cleaned the bathroom. So you see, I adapt to this motion pretty well, despite my whining. Oh, and by the way, we really do like sailing, most of the time. Last night on watch I was acutely aware of the uniqueness of our situation, one that only a handful of people on the planet can share with us: here we are, out in the middle of the ocean, alone, with nothing separating us from the sea but a layer of fiberglass, the stars and clouds stretching out forever, and the sea appearing to have no end. And on our little floating planet, we go about trying to live as normally as we can under the circumstances; writing letters, cooking meals, reading magazines, doing crossword puzzles. It's very odd, and very wonderful.

The sun has set, and we're getting ready for our night watch schedule, which starts with some dinner. Tonight, ramen noodles with veggies, our favorite meal on cool evening passages.