We are approximately 125 miles to Suwarrow, in very light wind, so we unfortunately are motor sailing. Let's hope the wind picks up soon. We made exceptional distance the first 24 hours, about 170 miles. Of course our best speed was at night sailing wing on wing going about 8.5-9 knots. Quite fun sailing, but quite tiring. If we keep going at our current pace we should arrive in Suwarrow midday tomorrow. Everyone is excited about having a break from being at sea and going ashore.
We have been occupying ourselves with baking and eating all sorts of good food. Gigi made cinnamon rolls. Axel made pizza. Harrison has made 2 banana breads so far. We have an abundance of bananas that are all ripening at the same time. We have had no shortage of good fish either. Gary caught a red snapper in the pass at Maupihaa that we ate the first night out. Harrison just caught a mahi mahi that should feed us for a few days. Axel also caught a mahi mahi, but when Harrison tried to gaff it, the fish got away. Plus we have all the good provisions we got in Bora Bora.
After a few days in Suwarrow we have the next long passage of about 525 miles to Niue. Hopefully we will have more favorable winds for that segment.
Julie
It's Harrison now, blogging for the first time at the request of friends so here it goes. It's been good to be back on Nirvana after a month in British Columbia although that month was an adventure on its own, joining another boat delivery, getting in a few nights of racing at WVYC, visiting Haida Guaii and the Cariboo all in one short but action packed month. As I said it's good to be back in the land of coconuts and boardshorts. Maupihaa was a taste of the tuamotus and I quickly fell back into the pace of snorkling and collecting coconuts.
A big thank you to Angela and Larry for the recipe for banana bread, I have been honing my at sea baking skills with tasty success. I had just started today's loaf when the call of "fish on" came from on deck and I bolted to the rod to see a blue flash off the stern. After adjusting the drag I had the upper hand and slowly but surely brought a decent sized mahi mahi alongside and Gary quickly brought it on board with a well placed gaff. I am looking forward to some hand pressed tortillas for some mahi fish tacos!
I'm sure the course on the tracker looks a bit shaky and that is an understatement to how the breeze has been. I'm looking forward to seeing Suwarrow which we have read about in Tom Neal's book An Island to Oneself as his tale was an interesting read.
That's all for now, I will try and post more through the passages to New Zealand.
Harrison
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