Three years and 5 days after crossing the equator southbound, we have crossed it again to return to the northern hemisphere. We celebrated this afternoon at 16:42 where we crossed the line at longitude 031 degrees west with a champagne toast. We were motoring (still are) as we are currently in the doldrums and there is no wind. The doldrums are a funny place. Also know as the ITCZ (inter tropical convergence zone), it is where the global weather systems of the northern and southern hemispheres meet and since they cant decide which way the wind should blow, it just rains. Wow, by the buckets! So great to have a shower just as you would at home standing on deck. Then a few minutes later the sun is back. The clouds are also amazing. Sometimes you can look out and see almost every type of cloud there is with a scan of the horizon. Blue sky here, a rain squall over there, upper level cirrus, with massive cumulonimbus below and puffy cumulus mixed in. We are hoping to get across this windless area by motoring for 48 hours to the NW where wind is predicted to fill in from the NE about 100 miles north of the equator. From there with any luck we will stay in the NE trade winds for the rest of the trip to Grenada.

Stats from the second week. 1990 miles to go 844 miles made good average 120 miles per day, 5 kts avg speed best day 140, worst 107 Engine time 24 hours 0 fish, from 5 days fishing.

The fishing has been a little disappointing lately. During the beginning of the trip we didnt fish much because the freezer was full of meat and there would be no room to keep any extra. But just before St Helena we decide to give it a try, and within one hour, there was one fish. Now the freezer is much less occupied and we have had the line out each day with nothing. We also haven't seen any fishing boats around in several day...maybe there is a connection. Im sure in the next two weeks something will bite.