Hot, Damn hot - still

Howdy folks,

Cress here.
How hot can it be sitting windless on a small boat on the equator in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in 35 degree water? Yes, you guessed it - hot, damn hot.

The wind, despite what the weather forecast, has deserted us to bob windlessly in the Pacific swells. Well, true, there is a faint breath from behind, but when we try to sail away from it in the direction of Fiji, we just stop! So we have set the spinnaker, just for fun, and are zooming slowly back and forth, reaching, but not getting any closer to our destination. It is however, a little cooler for the moving air. At least Jim at the helm is having some fun.

Right now are now passing, or attempting to pass through the Phoenix Island Group. Thing is, they are so small, and so far apart, we are unlikely to see any of them, and even less likely to hit any of them. Most are low lying atolls, barely wave height, which can make them a bit tough to spot, if you didn't know where they are, which of course we do with our GPS. What is spooky, however, is that the ocean floor here is covered in little sea mounts - underground volcanoes that don't quite come to
the surface in all instances. This is cool, except for when they do come announced to the surface every now and then, like an ex-partner showing up to your wedding reception. And like the an ex-partner, they can be not very friendly when you run into them unexpectedly, if you are not looking. Not likely to happen, but it is enough to make you pay attention on watch. When we are moving at least.

Otherwise , not much else to report, except that it is getting a little harder to be creative at meal time. And we are just a bunch of guys after all. Still its surprising what we come up with when pressed. Who would have dreamed of salmon potatoes for example - instant mashed potatoes, carrots and a can of salmon on top - could be so darned good! And its everything we can do to keep cold beer in the fridge. Fortunately, we still have red wine to hold us while we wait for the beer to cool. As for
cleaning up it will be simply easier when we run out of dish soap tomorrow or the next day. Besides, who can tell the difference between a glass washed in salt water with soap and or one washed without soap. They say salt kills all the germs anyways, doesn't it? I guess if running out of dish soap is the worst we have to worry about, we will be all right.

And speaking of being alright, let me make this confession: We definitely will not run out of beer. As all sailors know, beer has a lot to say for itself as a provisioning staple. It contains plenty of water, never goes bad (at least in my possession) and requires no preparation or clean up. And I guess that's why, as an all male crew, we made sure we definitely won't run out of it. (Thanks especially to Al for his gift of 25 cases!) You know, I believe its very close to noon. Gotta get my fluids!

C. Cresswell