Well, here we are on Day 3 of the crossing and we are diverting to Minerva Reef (I should have knocked on that wood even harder!). A very angry low pressure is building that could give us a lot of trouble (gales and squalls) on Saturday and Sunday, so we're opting to get into the last anchorage available before New Zealand and "sit it out." We hope it's the right strategy. It will cost us 2 or 3 extra days, but the storm is supposed to bypass Minerva so it should be safer there.

Day 2 (Our Wednesday) - I was on watch (11:30 PM - 2:00 AM) and started hearing some funny sounds. We were still motoring (no wind at all!) and I was a bit concerned something may be up with the engine when all of a sudden there was a giant blast of "steam" right alongside our port stern (left, rear). The "steam" came from the blowhole of a 20' (or so) whale that had come right up to say Hello! I didn't feel a bump, but am pretty sure it rubbed right up against us. There is a partial red tide going on here causing a beautiful phosphorescence when the water is disturbed. Along with the twinkling "diamonds" left in our wake, it made it easy to see the whale swimming just underneath the water before surfacing. It stayed near the surface and just kept spraying The Dorothy Marie. After realizing we could actually be in danger with it being so close, I woke Glen up so he could enjoy the visit as well (and take charge!). The whale stayed with us for almost an hour - going back and forth from the port stern to just behind the boat. We stationed ourselves in the chairs in the back to better enjoy the view and got a little shower every time it blew. We're not sure, but we think it must have been a youngster because of its small size - maybe it thought The Dorothy Marie was its mommy?!! I tried to get it on video, but of course, right when I started filming (more for the sound than the picture in the darkness), it left us. After looking at our whale chart and talking with Orca III who has a whale book on board, we think it may have been a sperm whale. It had a much blunter head and was lighter in color than a humpback - which is what we normally see out hear. It was definitely a thrill!

We had to continue to motor throughout the morning and finally about 1:00, we were able to sail. We had a little pod of the same type of whales come by (I think I got some video!) and 2 of them raised their heads up out of the water and watched us go by. We could see their eyes and everything! Right at that time, a big, 4 propeller military plane (an Orion) buzzed us very low. The pilot made contact through channel 16 on the VHF radio to let us know they were from the New Zealand Air Force and just wanted to ask us some questions. They wanted to know where we were headed (duh!!), how many people on board, expected date of arrival, etc... They also wanted to know if we had any animals or weapons on board. It was another neat experience and we're happy to know New Zealand is keeping an eye out for us cruisers (even if it is to make sure we don't bring "unacceptable" stuff to their country). I immediately had to go look at the photo album of Penny and re-convince myself this was the reason she couldn't come with us (actually, a blessing many times over). Glen caught a little skipjack, but other than that the rest of the afternoon was calm and quiet.

The day ended with me on watch again. This time instead of watching a whale, it was lightening - no where near as much fun! It went on and on and as we got closer to it, the winds picked up and the rain started. I again woke the captain to take charge! We had to reef in all the sails, put as many of our little electronics as would fit in the oven (for protection), and Glen draped some chain around a shroud (one of the metal things that hold the rigging) and let it dangle in the water. After hearing about Don Pedro's experience the night before, we didn't want to take any chances. Everything was unplugged and disconnected - the only thing we kept out was our hand held VHF so we could keep in contact with out buddy boat Orca III. (Dionne and I were both on watch when it started getting bad, and it was so nice to hear her voice on the radio! :)) We tried to motor out of the middle of it as quickly as we could, but our alternator belt started squealing, so we had to back off the throttle. We had some pretty heavy winds and rain for a while, but it wasn't too bad (except for the lightening all around!).

It is now 2:30 on Day 3. We are due to arrive at the entrance of Minerva Reef around 4:00AM so will have to stand off until daybreak. There is absolutely no wind right now, so it is hard to believe there is "bad stuff" in our future, but looking out to the horizon, we see signs of clouds building - hopefully not for another exciting night!

I had forgotten to mention that before we left Pangaimotu, we signed up to be a part of the "All Points to Opua Rally" sponsored by the Island Cruising Club in New Zealand. It is not a race, but they have several fun things planned for us when we get to Opua - our check-in point. One of the prizes will be for the biggest fish caught on the crossing and we are confident that Orca III will win hands down. They landed a 300lb, almost 8' long black marlin! They had it hanging by a halyard this morning so we could take some documentary type photos - it is bigger than Kyle or Steve! After the photo op, Steve cut it up and tied the tail half to a rope and threw it our way. It's marlin for dinner (as well as a lot in the freezer), so it looks like none of us will starve as we wait it out in Minerva!