Fanning to Christmas

We are on route to Christmas Island. It has been an ITCZ kind of day. I set my alarm for 0530 this morning. Crap! it was still dark. Finally started getting light around 0600 and we were on our way out the pass by 0630 ish. Had lines out, but no fish wanted to join us on our trip to Christmas. As we made our turn to the south, we noticed a ginormous dark cloud in front of us. The wind was pretty good though, so no problems. About 0715 though I started battening down the hatches, cuz sure enough that big old cloud had our name all over it. The wind came around to our nose and the seas got bouncy. Josh and I hunkered down below (fancy name for going back to sleep). Dennis stayed pretty dry, and there was some scattered talk with Moondance about whether or not this weather was here for the duration. But finally, the sun came back out, we opened back up and have had a pretty nice day since. Josh and I did some house keeping after lunch and then settled in for the duration. The wind finally came back around a little east, so I put the staysail out around 1630. Helps a little bit - the current is not helping, so it is slow going - even with the engine chugging along.

Tried to make water this morning, but had to give up, the water maker was not interested in making water in rough seas. I restarted it at lunch time so it is doing its 6 gal an hour thing. lunch was fried rice, and then Dennis and Josh headed down for naps. Pretty quiet afternoon. Saw one fishing boat headed for Pusan wherever that is. But that was it. Moondance is about 5 miles ahead of us. Their engine is new, so they go faster. We have talked a little on the VHF, and will talk again in the morning for sure. Now its time for me to make dinner - spaghetti. Pretty much a crossing staple - comfort food for this crew. I am going to have to break down and bake bread soon. Not one of my stronger suits, but I guess practice makes perfect. Wouldn't mind ordering out a pizza about now. So, maybe to celebrate the 4th I will make pizza. We will see how I feel tomorrow and what the sea conditions are.

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