After battling a strong winds and high seas for 3 days, almost magically I awoke the next morning after my night watch to sunny skies and soft rolling seas with 4-6 feet swells and decent winds remaining at 15-20 kn from the Northeast giving us a comfortable beam reach at 7 kn.

While enjoying the morning sunshine, all of a sudden we were visited by a pod of whales. There was considerable discussion as to the species as they were neither gray nor humpback but we thought that perhaps they were minke whales. They hung alongside us keeping abreast , of the boat obviously slowing down their own pace no more than 50-100 yards off the beam, then having satisfied their curiosity, they slipped into the deep and we never saw them again.

We have established a routine of watches and the days move from one to the other mostly established by routine. Watches and logbook entries are made and once every evening we check-in by single side band to the Pacific Maritimer' s network where some 18 boats are making their way through various parts of the Pacific - some to Mexico, a couple of others ahead of us on the way to the Marquesas and us. Our moderator is sometimes from Hawaii and other times from Australia.

Every boat that checks in gives their position as well as the sea state, present weather in barometric pressure allowing us to position ourselves on our own weather synoptics and see how the weather is going to be ahead of us.

We all have our sea legs and it is surprisingly much easier to move about on board, with the violent pitching from our first three days but a seemingly distant memory. Life on board a moving roller coaster gives you plenty of ideas of what alterations you can bring to play in your own boat to make the passage more comfortable. For example, just sitting at the navigation table trying to plot your position on the chart and make your entries into the log book is a challenging experience. With the boat rolling to and fro and from one rail to the other, you must always keep yourself fixed in place with one hand grabbing the fiddle on your left while you make your entries with your right hand, with your elbow holding down the logbook or chart. Otherwise within a split second you will find yourself sitting on the salon floor draped by your chart. All in all, quite a different experience!

We have hardly challenged the food stores much as of yet, as it has been too difficult in the galley to spend considerable amounts of time preparing gourmet meals. Mostly we are warming up the stews that Donna thoughtfully provided for us in frozen Ziploc bags, supplemented by muffins and brownies from the same reputable source. Heather made up a delicious curry pasta dish last night which after this many days at sea we all agreed could be served at a five-star restaurant!

All in all - it is everything I ever hoped for!