Thursday, May 10 9p
Motor's still on! Thank goodness we repowered because this iron sail is getting a workout! What wind we have keeps switching between southeast and northeast so every time we move the sails over for the new wind direction, it switches and the sails are once again backed.
We got a few showers today including one good downpour so the boat is all clean once again. Feeling industrious, I went up on deck and wiped everything down really well so it's ready for a coat of wax! If it's calm tomorrow that's what I'm going to do. The deck looks great! I cleaned off all the grime from flying fish carcasses and from the fish cleaning that happens on the sidedeck. I was thinking that one of my best “tools” for getting off stubborn marks on the deck & hull is my thumbnail. I'll try a brush, a rag, a chemical, pushing hard to scrub, but really what gets it off in the end is my thumbnail. Problem is it's still worn down to a nub from cleaning the waterline right before we left THREE WEEKS ago. I wish someone would invent something that works as well as a thumbnail.
For about 2 weeks now, we've noted that the galley sink area stinks- it started out smelling like relatively fresh fish and I could only surmise that something was living in the seacock at the bottom of the drain since we've had an octopus come up our cockpit scupper drain, numerous small crabs and when we were cleaning the bottom in the Galapagos there was a tiny fish living in each one of our seacocks- you could see them scurry in to hide as you cleaned the bottom. Anyway, over the past several days the smell has gotten worse & worse- more like rotten fish. I scrubbed & bleached the sink repeatedly to no avail. Well today I put on my thinking cap and also followed my nose... up to the fresh air dorade vent above the sink and the smell was coming from the vent! I had Jon go up on deck to peer into the cowl vent for a flying fish and sure enough, we had a hole in one! A flying fish had flown down the cowl vent oh, say, 2 weeks ago! So now, the big success for the day is the smell is gone!!!!
I was so excited I made fish chowder & cole slaw & Jon's focaccia for dinner and I could do it without wrinkling my nose.
Saturday, May 12th
Land Ho! We're a few miles away from Hiva Oa and excited to get there. We hear the harbor is jammed with cruising boats so it should be interesting finding a place to anchor but we'll take it! Yesterday was a dark, gray, socked in day with numerous showers, thunder, lightening, big seas and not enough wind to push the boat. Everyone has been complaining about these seas because they create a roll that is hard to live with. We continued to motorsail though since we like ourselves too much to put up with that motion when we have the fuel to press on and get where we're going. We spent the day just holding on. I made a chix & rice dinner and felt good to have accomplished that.
Today dawned much brighter, the squalls are gone and so we put the fishing lines out to see if we could snag something good to be sure to have PLENTY of fish for the next few days. A couple of hours later the lines were hit at the same time with a small tuna on each one. We each reeled one in and Jon steaked it all so now we can hopefully grill tuna tonight!  I already made the marinade. They are a beautiful torpedo shaped fish with the smoothest skin I've ever seen. And we've got a bag for a nice couple we met in the Galapagos on Solstice since they haven't had any luck catching fish this trip.
We were remarking that making landfall is less of a rush than it used to be since we've made many now and despite the length of this passage, really when you get into it, the days just go by and you're just in a state of limbo. But that said, I'm chomping at the bit to get ashore and move around & to resume living the kind of life we're used to. During the next few days, I hope to spend ZERO time in the cockpit!
We're not the best at keeping stats but here are a couple we came up with for this passage:
Started April 21st, Completed May 12th
Total Length of Passage: 21 days 7 hours
Nights Spent on Sea Berth: 21
Number of Fish Landed: 6 mahi, 3 tuna, 1 marlin. Only fished when calm enough or if we needed fish
Lures Lost: 2
Meals Prepared in rolling galley: 44 (since breakfast is on your own)
Miles left to New Zealand from here: About 4,000!
Thanks again for all the warm emails that kept us company on this long trip. And thanks to my best buddy, ol' pal Charlie for posting my blog entries so I could keep you updated on our progress. It's amazing how far communication has come since our first cruise back in '97! I'm looking forward to sharing our experiences from French Polynesia with you.