#46 NOW May 1, 2005 0230 Zone Time = UTC -8 hours S04’39 W131’27 Temp 80.2, Water Temp 87.9 Wind from the East @ 7 kts, Seas are 3-foot swells, Para-vanes down, Heading 234’ mag. Miles Completed 2194, Miles to Go 581, SOG (speed over ground) 5.7 kts. Good Morning, This morning I am listening to Symphony #3 by Harris. This rather unpopular symphony appears to be just a random bunch of notes with no discernable melody. This apply expresses my feelings this morning. One thing that has been very enjoyable on this cruise is the entertainment we have onboard. Before I took delivery of the boat some three years ago, I copied my entire collection of over 600 CD’s onto a computer hard drive as MP-3 files. This along with over 100 DVD movies and a good assortment of books gives us plenty of diversions during our leisure hours. The sea is calm and a waning moon is just now struggling up above the eastern horizon, casting its silvery glow on the small ripples. The light swell gently rocks the boat as we make good progress on the final leg into the Marquesas (it appears there is two spellings for Marquesas or Marquises, I am not sure which one is most appropriate). We are now able to predict our arrival with some accuracy, which looks like early Thursday morning, exactly 21 days since our departure from Puerto Vallarta. Yesterday, I accomplished my first very successful morning sun shot, giving me a longitude within one mile of our actual position. I will admit that degree of accuracy was a little luck, but what a feeling of accomplishment. It really has been enjoyable to develop this ability, and at night to walk out onto the Portuguese bridge (walkway around the front of the pilothouse) and identify the many stars. The sky is very different in the Southern hemisphere. Polaris is below the horizon to the North and Orion is visible only for a few hours. Now it is the Southern Cross pointing to the South Pole, which gives us guidance and orientation during the night. I have really appreciated Capt. Jim’s patients in helping me develop this new skill. Last night Jim saw four fishing boats. These are the first vessels we have seen in several days. I am surprised there is as much traffic as we have seen. Within 600 miles of Puerto Vallarta, there were several large ships, apparently in route from Panama to various Ports. Since then it has been fishing boats. During the morning Amigo Net, check-in on the HF radio, there are numerous boats starched out from Mexico to the Marquesas that report in. Most of them are of course sailboats, and it has been fun to note their steady progress in the trade winds. Most took a more Northerly route than we did to catch the stronger NE trades before heading south across the doldrums. Of course, we just keep purring along, with little concern as to what the wind is doing. Stephanie, my youngest daughter turned 21 yesterday, she appears to be recovering very nicely from her surgery that she had a few days ago. In fact, she decided to spend the weekend in Las Vegas with friends. Guess she has some of her dad's determination and sense of adventure. Life is a Cruise, Larry and Jim Larry Rick Done Dreamin' Nordhavn 40 #33 Site: http://gricknet.homedns.org/ Email: <mailto:donedream@pacbell.net>donedream@pacbell.net