Land in Sight! At 1:30 local time, Mary sighted land after being at sea for 23 days. It is a thrill, but the moment was also a very interesting snapshot of how much our small traveling world has become the edge of our reality. Mary looked up and hollered out "land ho", we all jumped up thrilled to see the tops of two volcanic islands clearly visible off the bow, and then everyone returned to playing Settlers of Catan on the cockpit floor. Mary was poised to dominate trading in the new world despite Timothy's best efforts to thwart her, and clearly this was the most important thing in our little universe.

We are currently about 25 miles from the Eastern end of Hiva Oa, with another 15 miles to reach the village where we will check into the country. Once we are close, we are planning on heaving to and waiting until daylight tomorrow to enter the anchorage. This means one more night of watches, and Mary would move the world to avoid this now that we are so close.

Land fall tomorrow. I am excited.