The seas continued to stay rough overnight and all today. To the point that my stomach hurt. The huge news is that the sun came out first thing this morning and tried to stay shining all day. There were plenty of clouds to get in its way but our solar panels were happy. Watched some more Downton Abbey with Mark. Then I headed for my 1st sleep around 8 pm. I actually slept pretty good despite the rocky ride. While on my 1st helm watch, we spotted some lights off the starboard side of the boat, 12 miles away. It turned out to be three Chinese fishing boats a long way from shore. Mark said it was a small area that was shallower to 600 feet instead of several thousand. They were going very slowly so we passed them at a good distance away. Along with the sunshine, came lots of birds. We still could not see the islands, because we were over 50 miles away. What a difference the sun makes! Our salon temperature was in the mid 80's today. The swells continued to be more than 10 feet. They continued to push us towards New Caledonia. Our speeds seemed to increase with the wind remaining under 20 knots. Mark kept reefing the jib because we didn't want to get to the reef entrance channel before sunset. That way we would be entering the channel with the current. I slept well on my 2nd sleep. I watched Homeland episodes and finally finished Season 1. Mark watched the movie, Leon, the Professional. He also watched some more Homeland episodes. We had plenty of power from the sunny day, so we ran the water maker for several hours. Mark did check the diesel tank and we are half-full. We have plenty of fuel to get to our destination. The plan is to enter the channel and sail 16 miles to an anchorage. Then it will be another 27 miles to sail to Noumea. They have limited time to check in on Sundays, so we will anchor and get a good night's sleep. Although we won't get to the anchorage until 11 pm. That means local time will be around 9 because we will fall back two hours in time. Mark checked the bilges and the starboard side had a couple inches of sea water. It's usually dry. He pumped it out and checked the other side. No water in the port bilge. He did engine checks. Port side engine had some water at the bottom, which he pumped out. These big huge swells are to blame. Engines are ready to go. If we can sail, we will continue sailing. We spotted islands about 20 miles out. Mark found the lighthouse at the entrance to the channel. We also noticed a sailboat coming out just now. They were really pounding in the swells. Once inside the channel, it's supposed to be the largest lagoon in the world. The internet picture were incredible. Looking forward to exploring some of the islands. The sun is setting and we only have 1.2 miles to the entrance. Mark will post this once blog later, but I wanted to get it done. Mark says the wind is chilly. This will be our 10th country to visit. Will have to have a toast when we get anchored. Thanks for all the satellite messages today. This is our 8th day on the water since leaving Tonga. Will look forward to some much needed rest.