Picture: Svetlana standing amongst the wild flowers and greenery in Sand Point.

Position at noon: 55 22.14'N; 160 08.96'W Noon to noon miles: 20 Miles since Mexico: 23,742

Weather: Rainy and cloudy (58 F or 14.5 C). Morning: Wind - East Southeast 16-20 knots. Boat speed: to 7 knots. Afternoon: Wind - East 13-16 knots. Boat speed: 5 - 6 knots. Evening: Wind - East 12-20 knots. Boat speed: 4 - 4.5 knots.

Breakfast: Bacon, eggs, tortillas with honey/salmonberry jam (made by Jill on S/V "Lady Jane"). Lunch: Grilled fresh local salmon with vegetables. Dinner: Salmon salad with crackers, quesadilla (Tortilla filled with cheese, salmon, onion and avocado). Dessert: Grahams crackers with peanut butter Drink: Coffee, hot and cold water with lime juice, wheatgrass-lemon-honey water, hot co-conut milk with vanilla, cinnamon and honey. Snack: Grahams crackers with peanut butter, jerky, dried squid, granola bar, chocolate, dried apple, peanuts and Japanese crunchy snacks.

Last night we decided that today is our departure day; however, when we woke up it was rainy and super wet. I walked over to see S/V "Liv" and S/V "SuAn" to check if they had any new weather information. Inwardly I was hoping they would say the weather was not suitable to go out. On the contrary, they were all set to leave. I also stopped at the harbor master's office for a copy of the current weather report. The report did not indicate any dangers associated with leav-ing this morning. We had no excuses but to cast off to face the high wind, drizzling rain and thick fog.

Even though the wind was quite high and the waves were lively, it was not too uncomfortable because the wind and the waves were with us. We had to reef (shorten) the sail but we were still traveling at a fast speed. S/V "Liv" stopped at one of the anchorages toward Geographic Harbor, (a famous area for grisly bear viewing) and S/V "SuAn" stayed at another anchorage toward Ko-diak. We, on the other hand, kept on going at night. They are like hares; their boats travel at a FAST speed but they stop at night while we are like a tortoise, slow but steady. Our hearts are like arrows, straight towards home.