The weather has been cold and wet the past five days. I have not seen the sun for more than an hour or two and the rain just keeps coming, sometime heavy and sometimes a drizzle. This could be Seattle!

Sand Dollar has checked out of Tonga and is departing early tomorrow morning for Fiji. The passage is 408 miles and crosses the Lau Group of islands which are poorly charted and littered with reefs. This is a difficult passage for a single-hander and, for this reason, Sand Dollar has taken on crew. The new hand is a very experienced and highly recommended young French woman who is crewing her way from Europe to Australia. She will help me take the boat to Fiji and then probably look for another boat going to Oz. There are five other boats leaving about the same time tomorrow and we have set up a radio net to keep in touch and track positions. The passage will take four days unless the wind is very light, which is unlikely.

All else is well onboard. We are all anxious for a return tropical weather.