Crazy as it sounds, Heidi and I have been married for 9 years today! We sure have packed a lot of life into our time together. We met in 2003 and it's been wonderful crazy ever since!!!

It hasn't been your typical anniversary, as we are under passage to NZ from Fiji. Heidi did make a fantastic meal last night when it was calm. Venison steak, and salad! Yum! We will do some more celebrating once we get to NZ.

We've had a bit of a long day since passing through a weather front. Bob McDavitt had forecast it perfectly, so we knew it was coming, and it is far better to take a front at our current location (28S), than it would be to pass through it closer to NZ (where they are much stronger).

Last night and earlier this morning, we were motorsailing in calm flat seas with no wind. Today has been much more exciting with good rough seas, and winds in the twenties. The winds are bad by any means, but when coupled with the heavy seas on the bow, it makes for a fun day of securing things that have become unsecured. Like those pesky Jerry cans full of diesel on the side rails. They have this magical way of loosening themselves. They must do it when they are under the water of the big waves, because I have yet to see one wiggling around while I can see them!

Jerry Cans are a funny thing. If you've seen cruising boats, they all have them. You may think that they are just for carrying extra fuel than will actually fit in the tanks. Obviously that is a correct assumption, but for us they are more important than that. With only a few exceptions, those jerry cans are how we actually fill out tanks. In most of the places we've been too over that past 18 months, there simply aren't "Fuel Docks" for recreational boats to pull up to. Sure, there are some, but not many. Most of the fuel docks we've seen are big, concrete, gnarly commercial docks. It's far easier for us to take the cans ashore in the dinghy, fill them, and then fill out tanks from them. Don't get me wrong, we are super glad to have the extra 120 liters of diesel on a trip like this. We will certainly be using our fair share of diesel as we approach NZ in a few days.

Hope everyone is safe and wonderful, particularly all our friends on passage this week around the South Pacific.

Joe SV Huck