Rattling chains and moaning startled me awake at midnight. Chain noises are associated with anchoring and we are in 12,000 feet deep water, to much for our 100 feet of chain. It is Christmas Eve and the moaning as the stumbling of Ebenezer Scrooge from the Christmas Carol making ruckus in the cockpit. Karl is on watch so I fall back asleep.

Moving west the sun rises later. The Southern Cross no longer skims the horizon but is high above my right shoulder. Orion is ahead to the west. We are motoring across a 100 mile calm area. The bow lights glow a festive read and green as do the engine controls.

At home we leave a carrot for Santa's reindeer. In Whangarei I found reindeer food at a cake shop. Labeled not for human consumption the sugar covered oatmeal, was mixed with stars and tiny balls. The instructions were to put out on the sprinkle on your lawn for a sparkling signal for Santa. Lacking a lawn I tossed the bowl of caribou treats overboard The plankton exploded with sparkles making landing lights for Santa. It worked. By dawn the big felted stockings were filled to the brim.

Traditional stollen and stockings then eggs with anchovies before we opened the gifts under the tree. Books, puzzles and games with keep us entertained.

I spent much of the day trying my new camera with a great zoom. I am still learning how to use it. Most of my bird pictures are of either empty sky or empty ocean. My jellyfish picture looks like a blue blob. By the end of the day I do a better job with the two visiting pods of dolphins. I Hand steering the boat with the drifter while taking pictures was not optimum but I am learning and neither crashed the boat nor dropped the camera in the sea.

This sea is very rich with sea turtles and three pods of dolphins. Whale sign including lots of whale snot is abundant. I keep expecting to see a whale appear in these glassy, bubbly patches but that is about the same as seeing bobcat tracks in the snow and expecting the animal to jump out of the snow and say surprise. I keep looking anyway. We start to notice it is summer. The sun it more brutal than we have felt so far on this journey.

Turkey dinner with plum pudding for dessert is the last tradition for our maritime Christmas. Tomorrow we get to wish everyone in North America Merry Christmas.