We slipped the moorings in Tahiti at the civilised time of 0930 the day after I had arrived and in only a few minutes we were negotiating the gap in the reef where a perfect set of 4 foot surf was peeling away on either side of us.
My body is here but my mind is still mostly at home and is struggling to catch up with said body. This is a surprise in it self, as even a girl guide with a runny nose can catch this body at the moment, so my mind can't be doing very well at all. Luckily, routine and procedures are helping. Pre departure check lists and so on, have been aiding me enormously to synchronise mind and body into the responsibilities of work.
It is a long way from Tahiti to Hawaii! 2500 miles in fact. Eight or nine days at sea. These journeys should not be taken lightly and we are once again doing something that is not illustrated in the trusty mariners companion, "Ocean Passages of the World". In centuries of ocean travel there really hasn’t been a reason for anyone to bother to sail straight up the middle of the Pacific. It is just a silly thing to do! Who in their right mind would do that?
If you get your self a globe or a map of the world, locate the biggest blue bit you can find and then stick your finger right in the centre of it, that is where we are! For the more technically minded 13 ° 00’ S 150° 00’W. In a few days we will once again cross the Equator so the weather is a balmy, baldy head burning sunny.
Hopefully in a week we will arrive in Honolulu. It’s becoming an old favourite with us.
Wow! Even Google maps doesnt look impressive at that location: hopefully this will show a link to the middle of the ocean....
ReplyDeletehttp://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=13%C2%B0+00%E2%80%99+S+150%C2%B0+00%E2%80%99W&mrt=all&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=13.574771,39.331055&ie=UTF8&ll=-13.004558,-150.007324&spn=43.666093,78.662109&z=4
If that doesnt work - paste this into maps.google.com -> 13° 00’ S 150° 00’W