About 200 mi from Tonga now, firmly in the Tropics proper as we trickle through 23 degrees South, ghosting along in really light air and bright 1/2 moon and enjoying the ride and conditions now that we accept the arrival time is not going to be what we had planned and realizing it really doesn't matter. We have relaxed and are starting to take it all in. Here on the night watch 1:30 am "local time", with light conditions, 6-10 kts just behind the beam, no real wind waves and a favorable swell to surf on we are doin that text book ocean cruisin thing out here now.

Speaking of "local time", what time is it out here anyway? I could easily get by on two times, daytime and night time but there seems to be more to it than that and it can take one quite a lot of time to figure it all out. Currently I can assure you that it is night time, this revelation arrived via astute observation practiced my whole life. For example, and you can learn from this I am sure, this time I simply glanced out the porthole and analyzing what I saw, I accepted the obvious, there is no doubt about it, it is Night Time! But in reality, there is local time, departing port time and arrival port times, UTC, GMT and Zulu. What happened to lunch time and Miller time I have no idea. We just operate out here on UTC, [universal time coordinated which is the same all over the world], ok,, got your head around that one?,, also called GMT [Greenwich mean time, the same time, time,, but the original moniker based on the prime meridian as time zero], got it yet?,, and then there is also Zulu [a tall very fierce looking African warrior generally equipped with a spear and the skill set to use it!] Hence we have learned not to ask questions about time. We we just crossed the International Date Line a while back, two days I think and are now back in the Western Hemisphere again but in the Southern Hemi as well So wait now, let me get this straight, we are sailing 028 degrees taking us NE and just crossed from the Eastern into the Western Hemi? East-West establishes time zones, oh no not more tine crap again, we just crossed a time zone advancing time 1 hour and the time remains the same as Fiji in the next zone west. How is all this happening? However a look at a chart or map or globe ,,we use an inflatable globe on board,, cant break when stuff is defying gravity and flailing around when the shit hits the fan and it reveals that Tonga elected to be in the same time Zone as Fiji despite being in the opposite Hemisphere. For ???? Economical reasons? Hmmm ever been to Tonga? I'm confused and I wrote this crap. I aint got Time fo dat! I may have to consult the Tequila bottle and see if there is any guidance contained within. I am usually able to find all kinds of wisdom in there but this is a different quest, wish me luck. OK back to reality, Gwen has pulled off a few miracle meals out of the galley with such good conditions so we are fat and happy. Being accustomed to ripping along at speed it took a while to adjust to the super slow stuff and not use every last precious drop of fuel, just to get off the ocean and put the passage behind us [truthfully, don't tell anyone but I used up 75% of all that clean duty free NZ fuel in the first three days, but that is another story] but now this is actually enjoyable and we are making reasonable progress without stress on us or the boat. All good as they say. Forecast is for a little bit more wind to finish and perhaps disturbed and squally conditions laced with convective activity,,lighting ,, near arrival time, sound familiar?. Remember all that diesel fuel I used up? Free blow dry, boat wash and sail cleaning service upon arrival.

New main sail has proven to be fab, Had to learn how to sail trim all over again after the last 20,000 miles on the old sail which produced great speeds really but required unorthodox {I know that now} trim which I must have taken that as normal because the new sail does not react well to my interventions. Rather better to go back to basic sail trim school and let it do its own thing. Needless to say it is quite excellent so far.

Wind piping up a little now so will warp it up and head back up to enjoy the beautiful moon lit sea and starry warm tropical night and the sound of the wake gurgling behind, hopelessly trying to catch up with us. Might have to make some popcorn and just sit back and enjoy the show! Better grab a post card and write all this down sounds like a good seller. HEY, who drank all the tequila? ##