Tracy
11/17/2008, Minerva Reef

We are getting ready to go tomorrow am. We have reviewed the weather and Commanders' routing report and talked with them by phone this am. Johan says that Swedes are known for liking to inject weather into everyday conversation, but that he has never ever experienced people who talk and think about the weather as much as the sailors in the Pacific! There is no such thing as perfect weather around here, but we think we can handle the predictions. Johan and Steve took a last snorkel, swimming with white-tipped, black-tipped, and grey sharks, hanging on to a hawksbill turtle, spearfishing, and gathering shellfish for dinner. I did a quick snorkel then spent much of the day cooking meals and pulling down weather stuff. It should take about a week to get to Opua, our port of entry in New Zealand. Wish us fair winds. Best, Tracy, Steve, and Johan

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Tracy
11/14/2008, Minerva Reef

We are at anchor in the middle of the ocean. After two days of motorsailing, the winds picked up just as we were advised by Commanders Weather to stay here to avoid a front coming up from the Tasman Sea early next week. We stared at the weatherfaxes hard and cannot really see the front, but Dave says all three models confirm it. So we decided to follow their guidance and will hang out here. Minerva is an atoll mostly underwater at high tide, with reef and breakers at low tide. It is rather surreal now, covered with grey clouds and sheltering a half dozen sailboats. If it is calm we will go off in search of lobsters on the reef. We won't check in to Pacific Seafarers' Net until we get going again; transmission by radio with them has been hard for various reasons, so don't worry if there are some of those dots marking our travel missing!

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Tracy
11/12/2008, Nuku'alofa, Tonga

After a non-stop work day setting up Hannah and a lovely evening with Big Mama at the bar talking about development politics, we are ready to go. Although we will miss the tropics, it is time to get out of the cyclone zone. We have unearthed odd clothing like long underwear and neck gators and pile vests and Northwest weather foulies, but hope for a few more days of temperatures that actually seem quite cool (77 degrees F in the cabin today). I am up at 4:45am checking weather maps, and Steve and Johan will be up within the hour for a big breakfast before taking off. Wish us fair winds. Our course will be plotted on the Pacific Seafarers's Net(www.pacsea.net) under roll call and tracking by KE7KIR.

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