Days 57 & 58 On Route to Fiji 16:01.4S 157:59.3W

Five Islands
John & Sue
Sun 15 Jul 2012 21:49
Rock & roll summarises the past 2 days. A front went through on Friday night which meant dropping the mainsail & reefing the headsail. A couple of prolonged squalls, rain, overcast skies and winds gusting to 30+ knots resulting in an uncomfortable couple of days. The wind dropped off last night and we are now waiting for the seas to settle back down. A tanker heading to Gladstone (Qld Australia) passed on our port side yesterday afternoon. Miss Kitty radioed them asking for weather info and had a bit of a chat to the nice Filipino operator. We passed within 7nm of a small atoll the night before last and Kitty & I could smell the sweet fragrance of flowers. Quite amazing. Life on board has been fairly mundane as it has been a bit rough to do the regular things, such as sitting out side as you are likely to get splashed. We are now 1310nm from Fiji, our speed having been slowed due to the weather. We have just passed into another time zone and are now 6 hours later than Panama time when we set out. Still takes a bit of adjusting to the new time in our daily routine and watch times. We are all well and happier now that the weather is settling.