Position: 11 degrees, 55 minutes North; 115 degrees, 24 minutes West Day eight:

Laundry Day on Charisma

Laundry and bucket bath day. Yay! The bucket is becoming almost mild. I think the water must be close to 80F by now. Nice to get cleaned off and great to have clean clothes. Many are drying on the lifelines right now, so we are very colorful.

All that color is what must have attracted the mammals. We’re seen several Pilot Whales who come over to have a look and then disappear. A little while ago we also had a Risso’s Dolphin come over for a look and to play on the bow wave. He surfed Charisma’s bow wake for about 10 minutes before taking off for other waters.

We also witnessed the acrobatic prowess of the boobies. We have not seen they dive into the water to catch fish like they do near land. We were wondering how they were feeding themselves for the long trip they must have to get out here (800 miles from closest land). We finally saw one dive down like a hawk, wings folded, blasting toward the surface right near Charisma. Then a sharp turn and “chomp”, he grabbed a flying fish in mid-air. Quite a feat. So now we know.

The conditions have turned very good. Since setting the pole yesterday morning, we’ve not trimmed a sail or touched the wind vane. Charisma has sailed by herself for about a day and a half now. Today with about 15 knots of wind, we have made 127 miles toward Polynesia. We’re now less than 2000 miles to go (1893 miles according to the GPS as of 0300 Zulu)