We are moving right along in the SE trade winds, headed in a straight line (more or less) for our destination. The days go by fast, the nights not so fast, but we remain positive and cheerful as one day falls into the next.

As it turns out, we made a good decision to motor the last 100 miles to evade some thunder storm activity in the ITCZ, according to our son Kadin, our north end weather bureau chief. He's been keeping an eye on the weather for us.

Another boat system issue we've had out here is refrigeration. It decided not to cool down below 50 degrees, a temperature at which food can be safely kept for only about 24 hours. We ended up having to toss out some fresh food and mayonnaise. According to the literature, there's not a lot that can be done to fix the system, but we tried. We exposed the compressor, took the top off the cooling water pump, Betty massaged it a bit, Andy tapped on it and jiggled some wires. Next thing we know it's working properly. Andy thinks it was Betty's massage; Betty thinks it was Andy's tapping. We'll never know.

So, what do our dinner menus look like? We are out of fresh fruit now. Our fresh vegetables include cabbage, jicama, onion, potatoes, carrots and a beet. We'll continue to eat cabbage salad till it's gone. Chicken chorizo sausage is our main meat (besides canned chicken, beef, salmon, tuna, etc,) and is very versatile. I put it in red pasta sauce, stir fries, pressure cooked beans, tortillas and eggs. Last night we had a white pasta sauce with smoked mussels made with canned cream of mushroom soup, milk, a little white wine, butter, garlic and onion. And a cabbage salad. It was quite tasty.