Stargaze 28:45S 161:10E
Salsa af Stavsnas
Ellinor Ristoff Staffan Ehde
Mon 8 Jun 2015 10:32
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Just before I fired up the computer I was
horisontal- looking at the stars. Now when the bimini is down it is easy, just
lay down and look upwards.
It has been a beautyful day when the boat has
sailed all on its own, the sun has been shining, the sea has been only around
1,5 - 2 meter swells.
Not only that, we seem to have a current that is
pushing us at least 1 knot extra and that makes us feel like very good sailors.
Making about 8knts in 6 knots wind? Well, well.
A day like this there is time to dry things after
all the rain, clothes that got soaked in ocean spray etc. This severe gale
actually dumped more water over us than we have ever experienced before.We got
pooped as the English say.
Today the kids have been doing some schoolwork,
Andreas got five missions written on notes, he had to read the notes and then
accomplish. It was great hearing him making every letter sound and then putting
them together and finally getting the word in full, continuing to the next word
and soon the whole sentense, the satisfaction in his eyes! It is almost hard to
imagine that in the beginning you have to take it letter by letter, word by word
and how hard it is to get the speed up. Erika has a hard time not to help him
out, you can see how it hurts when she can see the whole sentense in one
second.
Paradise
"It is almost axiomatic, that as soon as a place
gets a reputation for being paradise it goes to hell."
This is from a book called "The happy isles of
oceania" by Paul Theroux
I strongly recommend this book to everybody who is
interested in the Pacific in general and an honest description of the people
living here.
Paul paddles the Pacific and his way of telling
stories is fun and rewarding. Especially for us who have been around here there
is a lot of myths that have to be busted, we know it and he helps us doing
that.
The book is also available as a
Kindle.
The citation above is fun because we have been
discussing living the dream and also the fact that the most misused word among
cruisers is "paradise".
Everybody is looking for the paradise island.When
some early explorers found what they thought must be paradise, Tahiti for
example had the reputation for being very special, with nature of course but the
"free" spirit of the people made it attractice, especially for
men...
Well being paradise, the misionaries had to go
there and change things around.
And as a Fijian said to me, first the Europeans
come here and tell us to get dressed or we will go to hell, and now when
we are dressed, the Europeans come here halv naked...
We try to relax now before the next front with bad
weather is going to hit us, tomorrow will be motoring for 24 hours (no
wind) and then Wednesday dawn looks like we will get 30 knot winds and
rain. After that we shall be able to run for Newcastle.
Look forward to get there! 500 miles to go, at
least we are half way!
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