16:43.584 S  150:58.996 W

17/7/08 07:00

We left last night at 9pm, motored for the first three hours, sailed for an hour, motored for two hours and have been sailing gently more or less on course since 3:15 this morning.  It was a cloudy night, with suffused full moonlight through the clouds and a few rain squalls. Dawn began as a pale yellow slit in the clouds and developed dramatically over a half hour period.  The cloud cover seems to be clearing. We’re only making a little over 5 knots so it will be midday before we arrive in Huanini.

09:00

Just tacked as the wind has gone SE.   Boat speed up to nearly 7 knots and only a few degrees off course. As Russell begins his 6^th day with us, he starts his 4^th book. The young man is a voracious reader.

17:00

 We arrived in the main pass midday on the Western side but couldn’t find a satisfactory place to anchor as it was all too deep. So we moved on a mile to another pass and found a spot having been chased away from a pearl farm.  We had a very pleasant snorkel on the outer reef this afternoon.  Nightwind followed us in and will probably try to lead us astray later on.