Day 14 at sea and we are just over half way to Hiva Oa! The GPS says we have a mere 1280 miles to go. With any luck, we'll be able to do better than a 28 day passage, assuming the winds pick up - we've had some good days (15-20 knots), along with some pretty light days - but then again, we have not yet come to the doldrums! So maybe 28 days is okay - in any event, it will be what it will be; the important thing is, we will eventually get there! The hard part is that many of our friends who left from La Cruz (some up to two weeks ahead of us) have already made landfall - so the 'We wish we there with them' syndrome has bitten us a little; but then again, there are still some of our friends from La Cruz (and others) who are behind us - so we will be able to return the favor when we make landfall ahead of them!

A distinctive feature of the past several days has been the clouds - lots and lots of clouds (except for the heat - in the 90's during the day - it's like being in the Pacific NW!), some rain at times, and an occasional squall. In the parlance of the sailor, "squall" is a very bad word because it can mean some very rough conditions. Squalls are to be avoided, if possible - but that is not always possible, as we learned a few nights ago when we had our "baptism by fire." Some squalls are relatively small and 'established' and if you see them in the distance (at night they show up very distinctly on radar) you might have time to steer clear. But others pop up rapidly and feed on their own convection and can grow to monstrous proportions in a very short time, accompanied by strong winds and lightening; conversely, they can die out almost as rapidly. Two nights ago, just after midnight, Linda was on watch and came down to tell me there were a couple of relatively small squa lls showing on the radar about four to six miles ahead. In just the few minutes it took me to get dressed and up on deck they were right on top of us - and were no longer two small ones - it was now one very large squall that lit up almost half of the 16 mile radar display! The first order of business was to shorten sail even further (we were already reefed down for the night) as the wind was really starting to gust. Then we disengaged the wind steering vane so we could hand steer and maintain a steady course - the Monitor tends to round up in gusts. By then it was really blowing (we saw gusts as high as 27, but it could have been higher - we weren't always paying attention to the anemometer), the rain was coming down in buckets, and the light show had begun! (None of the lightening seemed to be hitting the water, but we put our hand held GPS in the oven - a natural faraday cage - just in case!) It seemed like forever, but in about 45 minutes to an hour we were through it, and everything settled back down. Actually, even in the thick of it, the boat did just fine - running along nearly on her lines at 5 - 5.5 knots with her deeply reefed sails! The clouds and squalls we have been encountering are all part of a very "active" ITCZ (Intertropical Convergence Zone - where the prevailing weather systems of the northern and southern hemispheres meet) that was very benign right up until the time we left Mexico. Lucky us! The Pacific Puddle Jump's weather guru, Clark Straw, tells us this is all part of a much larger weather phenomenon where large streams of tropical moisture are being pulled from as far away as 160W (near the International Dateline - we are only at 123W longitude) - almost four thousand miles - into a deep upper level low located off the coast of southern California. Hopefully all of this will settle down and things will get back to normal - whatever that is - in a few days!

A quick note about Clark: He and his wife Suzy, who live in La Jolla, California, sailed to the South Pacific as part of the 2002 Pacific Puddle Jump aboard their Mason 54 Final Straw. Clark and Suzy were in the Banderas Bay area last month for the 2002 PPJ ten year reunion, and Clark - who really knows his meteorology - gave a great presentation at one of the PPJ seminars on marine weather for this crossing. Since boats started leaving Mexico in mid-to-late March, Clark has been providing a great summary of weather conditions and forecasts along the "Great Circle Route" (basically the rhumb line) from Banderas Bay to the Marquesas. He sends his weather summaries out over Sailmail on HF radio every other day; an invaluable resource for those of us out here making the crossing (and before we jumped, for analyzing the best weather window to leave). "Thank you, thank you Clark!"

When we aren't watching the clouds and the squalls, we have been enjoying watching the flying fish fly and the tuna jumping. The flying fish can go amazing distances, and sometimes dozens of them will come out of the water at the same time (must be something big down there chasing them) - what fun to watch! (Query: when a school of flying fish leave the water, do they become a flock?) And the other night, a small pod od dolphins came to play; while you could not see the dolphins themselves in the dark, the phosphorescent trails they left in the water as the darted back and forth were clearly visible - a fantastic light show, and much more enjoyable to watch than the one put on by the squall the night before!

We have a momentous event (at least for a sailor) coming up here soon - probably before the week is out - crossing the Equator! We are not exactly sure where we will go from being "Pollywogs" to "Shellbacks." The latitude, of course, will be 0 0, but we still do not know the longitude where we will cross - probably somewhere between 128W to 130W. More importantly, we have yet to figure out exactly how we will mark the occasion - other than with a toast to Neptune, of course, which is mandatory (I wonder if he likes beer?). Unlike us, some of our fellow cruisers have placed considerable emphasis on and made great preparations for the event, to include bringing costumes to dress up in for the occasion! Our friends Mark and Anne on Blue Rodeo dressed up as King Neptune and a Mermaid - Anne was Neptune! Apparently they have pictures; however, I hold Mark in high esteem, and I am just not sure I want to see him dressed as a Mermaid!

Well, it is time to fire up the sat phone and get this blog entry posted. Thanks for checking in, and check back soon! Take care.