So close, yet so far away. Your Argos have worked their hearts out with very little to show for it today. Very sad after making such good time up until now. We started the day just like any other. Good wind for sailing, ahead of the beam so Proximity was powered up and going well. The big seas were the same as they have always been. A bit of a nusance, but very beautiful and impressive and no real worries. Then the wind shifted. At first our course was close hauled, about as close to the wind as we can sail - yes, even beloved Proximity has a limit. As the morning wore on, the wind pointed us further and further from our destination. It looked as though Manila might be our intended destination. Unacceptable, so we tried the other tack. It was worse - it made Buenas Aires look pretty promising. Yes, of course, we could actually do the back and forth tacking, but we calculated that this would make the actual distance we needed to travel much higher, possibly making it such that we might not make the reef pass before dark.

Now, remember that we were now only about 100 miles away, so hey, let's just try motoring. We did, and with 20 kts of wind directly on our nose and those big seas that poor Proximity would have to climb up like hills on the highway, there was no forward speed. What about motorsailing? For you non-sailors, this is when you can point the boat further into the wind with the help of the engine. Not today. Well, we could point her up, but not enough to make a meaningful course. All day long, we tried. Then the squalls came, and we just had to deal with them. The warm rain was nice, and the wind was forecast to go away after the rains made their way through.

Eventually, the squalls were gone, and by some magical occurrence, the seas had gone flat enough that we perhaps could motor up to Lautoka. But by now, it was late in the afternoon. There would be no way we could make the pass through the reef, and meander our way up to Lautoka by dusk on Thursday, and we do not do night arrivals, especially in Fiji. Fiji is reef city. Made a big impression on us last time we were here. So then, what would you do? We calculated how slow we would need to motor and get to the pass by dawn on Friday. Well then, here we are. Motoring at 3 knots, on a benign sea - a little, but not too rude. It is spectacularly beautiful. The sunset was quite something. We will get to do it again tomorrow.

Our progress for the day was minimal, but that is part of being a sailor. One works with nature rather than against her. "So why are you motoring, you hippocrite?" You may say? Well ..good question! I'll get back to you on it.

In the mean time, we enjoyed some outdoor time today. Things have been so rough that we have been "house bound" unless we fancied sitting in our full foul weather gear being pasted by big cold splashes. Today, we found ourselves out in the sun enjoying the incredible beauty of the sea. A pair of big brown boobys hunted along side of us for a while. And whats this? I think I see a veggie stir fry in our future tomorrow!