[password] shipnavire1
[status]
:position 07 06.182n 171 22.427e

It was a crappy passage to teh Marshall Islands. The prevailing winds were NNE and we were going NNW. I was reminded of the sailing adage "Gentlemen don't sail to windward" Well this lady would rather not do that either. We tacked, we pounded into it. But that was only part of the misery. I picked up a gastro bug in Tarawa and David got a cold, neither really apparent till we were underway. Add in seasickness for me and the generally not enough sleep you get on passage.
On our last night at sea we arrived at Majuro attoll after dark and hove to off the northwestern corner. It was still bouncy but a lot easier than sailing. We entered the lagoon in daylight and sailed ten miles of unfettered lagoon, no coral bombies to zigzag through, then a huge fleet of fishing ships appeared, about 40 of them, anchored off the main town. Through the other side I could a couple of dozens masts, our community for the summer, or winter as they call it here. It's academic so close to the equator. Eric from Aerial IV met us in his dinghy and took a line from the bow to thread through our mooring. I pushed the button. The engine stopped. I breathed out. No more passages for a while.

Janet[END]