In sight of the barn...

Well, not quite in sight of it yet, but we're getting close enough that we've started estimating time of arrival... 'course right now it looks as though we'll probably be arriving at Nuku Hiva in the middle of the night. Cruisers ahead of us have been able to get 90 day visas (as opposed to them only giving out 30 day, which was the rumor in Mexico). Good news, that.

Nothing much to report - the cloudy, squally weather that we'd been experiencing for several days seems to have left us. We've now got clear skies and about 18kn SE winds. The seas are up a bit again, with swell running around 10ft, but it's not too uncomfortable. We're catching up to Seanika (they're now 80 miles ahead), but probably won't catch them before we arrive... oh well. Yesterday thru today was our best yet noon to noon at 173 miles!

A school (herd?) of dolphins came by this morning and gave us a great show. They approached the boat leaping out of the faces of waves, then stuck with us surfing on the bow wave and nearby wave faces for about half an hour. There was at least one juvenile, about half the size of the adults. Probably 20 in all.

The kids are busy at the moment playing with a bunch of small plastic turtles, making elaborate habitats out of tupperware and construction paper. It's fun to see what they come up with to entertain themselves. The adults are having a bit more difficulty staying entertained. I've read several short stories out of Tim Cahill's "Please Pass the Butterworms" to everyone, and today I hauled out the sewing machine and made a French flag and a yellow "Q" flag in preparation for our arrival (a bit of a challenge while heeled!). Lots of just sitting in the cockpit staring out at the ocean. I'm finding that I'm not spending much time in meaningful deep thought as I hoped I would. I guess fatigue due to little sleep and the constant motion prevails. Kel and I (with the kids input, too) have been discussing what we want out of life when we return... nothing definitive yet, but good to realize there will be life after "the sailing trip".

Position 05 47S, 134 33W. 2607 miles from Zihuat, 368 to go. We're averaging over 7kn for 36 hours! Current ETE: 57 hours 15 minutes.