The last 24 hours have been pretty uneventful. The wind has continued to die, now in the 8-10 knot range, so we are motoring the last 40 miles to our rendezvous with the equator later today. Lots of reading, naps, and small projects.

The project list is a combination of boat maintenance, preventive maintenance, inspections, and a bunch of bureaucracy to deal with while preparing for entry into French Polynesia, especially since we have Leeloo aboard. The official French document for entry includes questions like “Are there any stowaways on board?”, and “Has anybody died while on your passage?” Clearly this was designed for large vessels…. The amount of documentation to come into the country has grown substantially since we were last here in 2009, where we showed up at the gendarme in Hiva Oa with our passports and crew list, got a 90 day visa and went on our way.

After our equator celebration, we have another 2 days of motoring through the doldrums that will put us down near 5S, 134W, where we hope to pick up the southern trade winds. If they develop as forecast, we will have a nice beam reach for our last 3 days into Hiva Oa. At our current pace we will arrive on or about Monday the 7th.