The high wind and boat speeds continued with the night helm shifts and into today. Highest wind speed was 25 knots early this morning. I saw a high boat speed of 9 knots. Mostly 7 knots all day. We reefed the jib to a very small amount exposed and it felt like we were flying along. The seas continued to increase. The swells were knocking into our hulls and splashing the deck with salt water. Sometimes, even splashing the tail of the wave over our salon hatches. We enjoyed a lovely hot lunch when Mark finished his second sleep shift. The number of miles dwindled down. We put together celebratory party hats for the crossing. We thought Neptune would like that. Mark is a Shellback, having crossed the Equator as a young 3 year old, on route to Argentina. Apparently, I didn't know that I was a pollywog because I never had the honor of crossing before. Until today! We crossed around 4 pm, toasting Neptune and each other with champagne. We also toasted with some good Canadian Ice Wine! The weather was much the same in the South Pacific. Mark thinks the seas are a little less and the wind is definitely less. We decided to shake out the jib and fly a full sail. That has added two knots to our speed. It's not as rough on the ocean so we are sailing smoothly. We saw many birds again today. Some of the boobies like to fly very close to Charabia. I think they are checking up on us. This is definitely a day to remember. Hope all the mothers enjoyed this special day. Thanks to all those who sent us satellite messages. We love hearing from you. Hoping to find a good radio station with some news. Or maybe, it's just nice to have a break from all of the ongoing issues that face our country and the world. We are 887 nautical miles from Tiputa in the French Polynesian northern Tuamotus islands. Would love to keep up our fast speeds. However, it's been difficult to do much of anything on the boat. Charabia rocked back and forth and up and down on the swells. Sometimes, the crashing waves hit the hull with force and noise. Kind of a banging, bashing sound. When you are sleeping, it actually is loud enough to wake us up. Then trying to cook something is such a challenge. Thankfully, our pot holder works well to keep the pot on the stove. It will most likely take a week to travel the rest of the miles. It all depends on the wind. Enjoy the rest of your day!!