As we Sailed in to our mangrovy anchorage today, there were many sea birds looking rather aerodynamic with long tipped wings above. We have come further up the coast of New Ireland to where we have reached probably the most north we will venture on our journey. So it is significant in that sense, a turning point. Our feat is 2 degrees south, well and truly in the Doldrums but we'll sadly just miss out on reaching the northern hemisphere. It wouldn't take long to go further north and like other cruising boat about to passage to the Philippines from here it is very tempting to do so as well and never return. Why should we end our trip? Maybe we should just join them.. We are not too far from there.

Our day today was a little longer than expected because as we reached the narrow passage to go through to the east side of New Ireland we were met by a rather large 35 knot squall - taken a bit of surprise, quickly we put two reefs in our main and rolled away some genoa, but visibility gone and nasty rain so close to land meant a quick tack, then tack, then jibe and tack again and then finally spending some time hove to, to wait for the weather to dissipate without straying too far from the entrance. A bit of an exciting reminder about being prepared for the dark clouds ahead.

But to make all this easier we have picked up an extra crew- Meline, a friendly young french women who has fallen out with her shipmate Gerard, unable to get along anymore. Things seem to have not worked out so much as to jump ship- cabin fever, so now in a weird situation we have picked up her and will take her to Kavieng where she will fly back home to New Caledonia. Her shipmate Gerard is trying his hand at single-handing so we are sailing with him in convoy as well, a little support for the first time single handler. So yeah it is a bit weird, but cabin fever with most people in such close proximity over such a long tome time can make anyone go crazy (except for us!). Of course being alone sounds worse to me. Meline is very friendly and helpful, keen to learn and an excellent cook- unfortunately the language barrier make it hard for her and I to communicate.