May 24, 2019
Everything went fine last night, at least until the end of my
watch. After that, I went to sleep and someone else (Joe) worries about things.
You can see the radar image – the squall just kept reforming on top of us but
never really did much. Griselle said she got rained on later in the night
during her watch as well.
We can see all kinds of storm clouds tonight but are doing our best to dodge
them. So far, only a few drops of rain. The rain is welcome because it rinses
off the boat and cools things off but it makes sleeping more challenging
because we have to close all the ports (windows on the vertical surfaces of the
boat) and hatches (windows in the horizontal surfaces of the boat) so it can
get quite steamy inside.
Usually I spend a good portion of the night closing all the ports so beds and
books don’t get wet, then opening them to make sure he kids are comfortable,
then closing again when it rains, opening, etc. I’m not sure the kids really
care what happens with their air circulation but I can’t seem to let them
swelter so I continue to play my window games.
We have 35 miles to go and are motor-sailing once again. This means we are
running the engine with the sail up in hopes that the wind will assist the
engines somewhat. We are headed dead into the wind so the sail is doing nothing
to help at the moment.
We are averaging 5 knots so should arrive around 5 in the morning. This gives
us an hour to kill before trying to get in through the pass at daylight (6ish).
All the boats were advised not to try the pass at night and we have no desire
to run aground or scrape on coral so we will bide our time until daylight. We
have a knack for night arrivals – o matter the weather or distance, we always
seem to arrive at dark- good to see this is no different.
Today was a special day on the boat. Chris and Griselle celebrated their
anniversary and we hosted a romantic sunset evening for them. The kids helped
set up a table on the foredeck with pipe cleaner flower bouquets, wine, cheese
and a card. Marin delivered the flowers, Cobin was the server, and Tully played
the harmonica and continued to check to make sure they were OK. In spite of all
the aggressive attention from the kids, I think they might have had 1-5 minutes
to themselves.
Earlier, Chris taught a fun Spanish class with verb conjugations and bubbles.
The kids finished up their science unit on ecosystems and all three did well on
their tests. Next we will begin the Science of Toys! Thanks to our earlier
guests, Susannah and Jamie, we have been integrating a new math book into our
school days. Today, the kids made bar graphs with intentional mistakes that the
other kids had to catch. Marin had tigers and hippos on a graph of animals with
horns, Tully had bottles that measured in inches instead of centimeters, and
Cobin tricked us all with an electrical company that distorted its scale to
make its prices seem far cheaper than its competitors. Slow sailing makes for
good school days!
We will spend the next 2-3 days in Suwarrow and leave when the weather looks
favorable for our next passage to Niue. Nikitoo spoke to us on VHF tonight and
proposed water skiing so we may be doing that tomorrow. They kindly took me
when we were anchored in Rangiroa and Cobin got up on his first try in Bora
Bora. He skiied circles around the anchorage and was thrilled until he woke up
the next day with painful muscle soreness in his legs and back.
Enjoy wherever you are today. We are quite happy out here on the velvety
Pacific, waiting for whatever the wind brings next.