Position: 21 degrees, 21 minutes south; 155 degrees, 16 minutes west 112 nm (motored all night)

Today was one of those days that make you forget about the other ones. Blue sky, blue water, and warm weather. It would have been perfect with just a touch more wind. We’ve had about 6 knots of wind most of the day and are able to make about 3 knots boat speed out of that. Sometimes we stretch to 4 knots. We’re hoping for a tad more wind tomorrow, but nice to have calm conditions after chasing that low across the Southern Ocean. Now we’re in a high, so the air is more stable and we don’t worry (as much) about crazy squalls and stuff. We actually have no reefs in the main for the first time in over two weeks and we changed jibs to “the whomper”, our really big jib. The other nice thing about the change in weather – we have stowed the long underwear. We’re definitely in the tropics now, so have been all day in shorts, tee-shirt and flip flops. Nice.

Oh yeah, the green flash. This evening watching the sun go down I noticed the clarity around the horizon and said to Ann, “Watch for the green flash” (you’ll have to google the reason for this – too long to explain). She turned and we counted down, watched the sun dip and…blam, the biggest green flash either of us has seen. The sun disappeared and a second later this huge flash of fluorescent green lit up where the sun was. We were both so stunned we started cheering. A great end to a gorgeous day.

But wait, there’s more! Two hours later, the glow of the moon on the horizon announced an imminent appearance. Ann shouted, “Charisma time!” and I ran below to prepare our evening concoction. Got ’em done just in time to celebrate the moonrise with our favorite cocktail.

So, we’re 373 nm out of Papeete as of this writing. That’s the good news. The not as good is we’ve about used up our fuel and have light winds for at least the next four days, so if the wind dies, so does our speed. (We’re doing 2.3 knots right this moment). We might average 80 or so miles a day, so we’re still some days out. And, the wind looks to be heading us – meaning that at some point it may force us away from our destination. We’re trying to get “some easting” in right now and hope for the best.

It’s all part of sailing. At least it’s warm.