weather & plans

The next passage will be at least three days long, so we've been looking for a period of good weather to make the jump. The forecasts never seem to show 3 days out accurately, so we've been holding back. Now it's looking fairly stable for a while, so we can start getting ready. I think we really don't want to go and there are still a few things to experience here, so who knows. Living in limbo gets frustrating, but sometimes the flexibility is good. Time is ticking, as we have to have the boat out of the cyclone belt by mid November.

Pete's time keeps being taken up with projects lately. Our host family had a few things to be done and another boat is asking for help as well. Some people are really not capable of taking care of themselves out here and rely on others to get them out of binds. This particular couple, has no business out in the ocean by themselves. Pete was shocked at the lack of basic knowledge, and the hairy situation they'd just come through, ending in their head sail being under the boat and the anchor dangling by the chain in mid ocean!! Most of Pete's fix it jobs for other cruisers have been out of the goodness of his heart because they are our friends. Usually we get taken to dinner or given a bottle of wine. This time he got a significant amount of money for his time because we'd never met them before and he really didn't have spare time.

The weather has gotten windy and rainy again, so our beach plans are getting squashed. Ellie found a really nice shell the other day, but it got smashed, so we're on a quest to find another one. The tides are really low this week, so we'd also like to do a walk on the top of the reef. School takes up so much of the week, that between that and chores we're not getting near as much sight seeing in. We'll try to make the most out of this weekend.

We've been having fish nearly every meal this week. They caught close to 80 crabs, several wahoos and 2 barracudas in the last 2 days, so we're feasting like islanders. I've never tried barracuda, so it'll be a new thing tonight.

Our hostess, Shirley, wants me to teach her how to make brownies and cookies. It's a real challenge because she doesn't have butter, brown sugar, vanilla or any other flavorings. I've been scouring my recipe CD for basic recipes using white sugar and oil. I've found two, so will try them out and make sure they're edible. I think I'll give her some cinnamon, cream of tartar and vanilla so she can make snickerdoodles. She'll have to order butter from Rarotonga when her supplies come. She does have cocoa powder, so she can try brownies.

Life is never dull, keep in touch, Kellie