Yesterday afternoon Don was able to get our autopilot working again. Thank goodness because it is alot of work keeping an eye on your course especially at night. It's the red light of the compass...the way it slowly moves back and forth, back and forth, next thing you know you're hypnotized and falling off your perch. On my watch last night we crossed paths with a 50 meter fishing vessel. They passed in front of us by 6 miles and they showed up clearly on AIS and radar. No call was needed. About an hour ago Don spotted something big on the horizon. I got up and turned on the computer and the radar. It was a huge container ship, the 'Aglaia', 238 meters long and carrying 4000 containers. AIS told me that he would be passing in front of us in 20 minutes, missing us by 1/10th of a mile! Holy jeez...I called on the radio and spoke to the captain, a young man from India. He altered his course to starboard and Don, who was on the back deck of our boat clearly saw that the ship had changed course and we were no longer in a scary situation. We passed port to port with exactly one mile of separation. That's better but they are so big it's still a bit too close for comfort. I called the captain back and thanked him. They are on their way to Tokyo. He told me that he has been working on ships for eighteen years. He asked how big we are and told me that his lifeboats are a bit larger than Buena Vista! He asked us about our travels and how long our trip from Fiji was. I asked him if the Tropical Depressions forming along his path would bother them at all. He said they rock a little bit in 4-5 meter swells, but not too bad. Eeek. If we ever encounter anything like that it would be very bad! I really enjoyed talking to him, it was a nice experience and so much better than our last encounter with a big ship at sea. We are currently just over 200 miles from our marina berth in Opua. We will be there early Monday morning. Several boats in our group, up ahead of us by 50 miles or so are headed towards the North Cape, a bit to the right of our course which is straight at Cape Brett. They have had more of these strongish SE winds and swells that make it difficult to manage. Back here, we're just powering through and over everything, motoring at 6 knots. All is well on Buena Vista. We are ready for a good long sleep! But first, let the eating begin! We've got lots of fruit and veggies to get through before NZ customs takes it all away. Today I tossed my little herb garden and little cactus overboard, sad. Oh well, I'm gonna have a great garden in Australia. Love from us! Debbie and Don