Tuesday August 3-Day 1, Happy Birthday Max! We departed Denarau at 10:30am along with s/v Ohana, US flagged vessel from in Argentina, a catamaran with 5 adults and 6 kids onboard, for Lombok Indonesia. Hopefully we will be together with them for countries west, too.
Oh my the stars, the Milky Way, the Southern Cross!
Wednesday August 4-Day 2, Nautical Miles traveled 156 in the past 24 hours.
17° 20.708′ S 174° 30.440′ E
Sunset 6:11pm 17° 16.302′ S 174° 5.091′ E The night sky was spectacular!
Thursday August 5-Day 3, Total nautical miles traveled 276, 120 nautical miles traveled in the past 24 hours.
The sky is quite gray this morning with rain in front of us only to pass with blue skies behind it.
Sunset Vanuatu Standard Time 5:20pm 16° 49.121′ S 172° 3.564′
Friday August 6-Day 4, Total nautical miles traveled 403, 127 miles traveled in the past 24 hours.
Baking day…banana bread, orange scones with an orange glaze, peanut butter protein bars, started a loaf of sourdough bread. Also diced and put into containers to use later, green peppers, red peppers and onions. When the wind is light it is easier to do these things.
While I was baking… 
Banana bread 
Orange scones 
Peanut butter bars
The protein bars tasted better than they look. 1 cup peanut butter, 1 cup of honey, in a medium saucepan melt together over low heat till blended, add 3 cups of oatmeal and/or anything else you’d like to add like chocolate chips or raisins. Spread in a rectangle or square dish chill til firm,a couple of hours or overnight, then cut into bars or squares.
We heard from our friends on s/v Roxy. They departed Raiatea, French Polynesia in June for Reunion Island. They are now 10 days away. 8182 nm done and 58 days at sea. Wow!
Saturday August 7-Day 5, Total nautical miles traveled 532, 129 nautical miles traveled in the past 24 hours.
*Sourdough Notes* baked a Belle loaf, ah the aroma of baking bread first thing in the morning!
We sailed through the the islands of Vanuatu. There is an active volcano on the island of Ambrym. However as we sailed past it, the mountain top being cloud covered, we couldn’t see anything. The island country is currently COVID closed.
Sunday August 8-Day 6, total nautical miles traveled 687, 155 nautical miles traveled in the past 24 hours.
At night the water sparkled as we sailed through it. We haven’t seen bioluminescence since Southern California. It is very dark at night as there is no moon at night right now, so the sparkling was very brilliant.
I head a strange noise at night while I’m on watch. Sounds like sparks. I go down into the cabin, while reaching for the ceiling light I step on something slippery. Here a fish, about 9 inches long, flew into the cabin and was flopping around on the floor. I managed to pick it up and throw it overboard. Crazy flying fish!
Monday August 9-Day 7, Total nautical miles traveled 836, 149 nautical miles traveled in the past 24 hours.
Boat speed and true wind speed are the same. True wind speed is a calculation. Boat speed is correct…. a problem with wind speed.
Upon further investigation, we believe a bird (they’ve been dive bombing the boat the last two days) flew into and broke the apparent wind speed instrument at the top of the mast. One was actually sitting up there. Luckily, the wind direction indicator still works.
We’ve asked our buddy boat s/v Ohana to relay the wind speed periodically, which is now in the low 20’s knots, and expected to increase around 25 for several days.
8:15am, Currently sailing 7knots with triple reefed Main and Genoa. TWD 141, COG 275, 6ft waves.
For dinner this evening we had a one pot meal of sautéed potatoes with red and green peppers, onions, garlic and steak cut into bite size pieces. It’s easier having your meal in a bowl than on a plate.
Sailing Trance 