So far this has been a funky passage. What does he mean by funky? Well it means not very exceptional, we left Tuesday afternoon after a big hassle about not getting our fuel on Friday, had a pleasant and fairly fast sail over the following night, day and night, then the wind went somewhere else so we are motoring along in a sea so calm you would not think we are hundreds of miles from the nearest land. Our shipmate for this voyage, Simon, is an excellent chef and has turned out some delightful meals. The only downside to eating good meals is the boat has been rolling quite a bit, so it is hard to keep the food on the plate or the plate on the table. Ah well, the price one pays for that is just a little soap and water and a bit of elbow grease, as my mother used to say, and no one will know. The cats are being kind of funky too. As is their habit in the early stage of a passage they don�'t eat much and sort of lay around looking lethargic. Actually, they always lay around, the only difference is the looking lethargic and not eating a lot. The funky part is where they choose to hang out or lay out. Bob, was under the shelf under the desk at the navigation station and nearly invisible for a day, now she is in our bed. Buzzy is curled on top of the bar, a small rectangular shelf that is adorned with an old brass ships lamp, a conch shell, a bowl of something (maybe fruit) and miscellaneous other things. I think some hats have ended up there as well. The effect is there is a bit of fur sticking out here and there and if you poke or pet it, it makes noise. But that is it. Speaking of the cats and hassles, New Zealand is the most zealous country we have encountered in keeping disease out. This subject deserves, and will receive a posting all its own, for now I will tell you that because they were not in Rabies free countries until we reached the Marquesas we are required to be on a mooring where the boat must stay with the cats, until December 28th, at which time they will be eligible to go to a quarantine facility for 10 days. Our other shipmate, Mark the Exuberant, is also delightful company and has a little problem sleeping, until he doesn�'t. He will be doing something and all of a sudden, he says I�'m tired, then he is sound asleep. Amazing. I guess the bottom line of this is that life aboard goes on, it is sort of routine but that is the rhythm of things out here in the vast ocean. It�'s pretty cool, More later