Lat: 6 09.850′ S
Lon: 119 27.072′ W

1184 miles to go…

First, we’ll have the sailing summary for the last couple of days. One slow-moderate day with the jib and one moderate-fast day with the spinnaker. The winds have been a little in and out in terms of strength, but the seas have really been up the last couple of days. We’re glad to be going with them.

Things have gotten a little slow when the highlights of your day are what I’m actually going to mention in this paragraph. First, Lauren and I saw an orange buoy or large fender yesterday that had apparently been lost by someone. It was the first sign of human existence we’ve seen since the Galapagos and if we didn’t have the spinnaker up in some good sized swells, I think we might have gone to have a look at it (that’s the highlight from yesterday). Today’s first notable event was a bug sprayer shower, which was much appreciated. Finally, and the most exciting of all: Cheez Whiz! I’m not sure what’s in “cheese food” (maybe some sort of artificially-flavored plastic with a low melting point), but when Lauren finished cleaning out the fridge, she found a partial jar that was first purchased and opened in Ft. Pierce. In another fortuitous twist of fate, we had also found a partial bag of nacho chips and we still happen to have some jalapenos. You guessed it — ballpark-style nachos with melted cheese food and jalapenos. Wow. Not what I thought I’d be writing out here, but it was good.

We’ve been enjoying reading Earl Hinz’s cruising guide for Oceania and thinking about our route after Hiva Oa. The challenge is going to be to take advantage of the few months we have left this season to cross the 2nd half of the Pacific, see some of the sights, and still manage to spend enough time off the beaten path to become at least a little bit familiar with some of the amazing people and cultures friends have told us about.

I also wanted to note that in June we covered almost exactly 10% of the earth’s longitude and still managed 10 days in the Galapagos. Not a bad month.