Less than a week to go (hopefully)!

We are now less than 700 miles from Hiva Oa, Marquesas. Last night we had no wind so we decided to heave to again and drift while we got our second night's sleep. When we woke up this morning the wind had picked up and we were able to put the sails up and make some way.

There's really only one rule for arriving in the Marquesas. Don't arrive on the weekend. The agents don't work on the weekend, therefore you can't check in, resulting in you staying on the boat until Monday. Guess what day it looks like we're going to arrive? If we don't pick up speed, it's going to be Friday afternoon or Saturday. While I don't think motoring last night would have made a huge difference, it sure makes you feel like you're paying for your sleep. It's still too early to tell, but judging from the boats in front of us, it doesn't sound like any major wind is coming our way. There are boats drifting with little to no wind from 04 degrees north all the way to 05 degrees south. We're somewhere in the middle going about 4.5 - 5 knots now, which isn't bad but it's not good enough to arrive Thursday like we wanted to.

In all fairness, it's really hard to plan your arrival day for a 2700 mile passage. Heck, we still don't know how many days it's going to take us! But to look on the bright side, we're almost there! Which is a good thing...I threw out our last cabbage today as it was stinky and not too pretty looking. We're down to apples, potatoes, onions and some chayote that looks to be sprouting it's own roots. Plenty of food, but it will be nice to get some fresh fruit when we arrive. An apple a day may keep the doctor away but it also gets extremely boring.

I know the commentary gets a little boring (It's not too exciting out here either), but don't forget about us! We enjoy getting email, so feel free to drop us a note!

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