Sunday, July 30th

At 09:00 local time the position of Sundance is S 02.36.5 W 164.59.6. The wind is out of the ENE at 14 knots. Everyone is doing great and are in high spirits. After crossing the equator yesterday Sam and I both shaved our heads and Mike has chosen a Mohawk in celebration of crossing the equator. Don't worry we took lots of pictures!

Saturday, July 29th

Today we crossed the equator at 5:40a.m. on Carson's watch. We made steak and eggs for breakfast, and for dessert a yellow cake with chocolate frosting. We are having 6-7 nots of wind, with calm seas. Can't wait to see civilization! We have 6 days left... We will post a position in the next couple of days!

Thursday, July 28th

Our Position is: N 04 53.7 W 162 46.7

Winds are about 7 knots with comfortable seas

Palmyra

Hello to All,
We are on Palmyra and we have had a great time. The sail from Fanning was only two days but long. We had a couple of mechanical problems and we had for the most part no wind. Everything is fixed and the Sundance is running great. Last night while we were socializing with the staff of Palmyra we were informed of the new installation of satillite internet and here we are posting a new blog. We will stay for another day and head out to Pago Pago. We will be losing Sam and pick up our friend Chad. Sam has been alot of help and a great crew member and will be missed. Chad watch out Sam has set bar very high. In Pago Pago we will shop for supplies (Rum) and I will be able to get a new computer and will be back on line. Mike and I plan on spending two days at a internet cafe and get caught up on emails and update the site with lots of pictures and more stories. We love all of your comments and I will try to get the tracking info corrected so everyone will be able to follow. Our next leg we will only give a position report every other day. The wind has not been very good. The sail to Pago Pago might take upto 10 days. Thanks again for all of your support and we will be publishing lots of info when we arrive in Pago Pago.

Thursday, July 20th

Hello Everyone,
I have had complete electronic failure and because of our new friend Bob who is the NCL manager we are able to get an email out to the blog. We are leaving Fanning Island today and heading to Palmyra. It is going to take us about 36 hours to sail to Palmyra. We will spend about 3 days there and then we will head to Pago Pago which will take about 8 days. When we get there will be able to email and upload pictures of the trip once we arrive. We want to thank you for your patience and please keep checking on the site. We plan on arriving on August 2nd in Pago Pago. Fanning has been an incredible experience and I have many stories to write on the blog site when we get to Pago Pago. Thanks again Carson, Mike and Sam.

Friday, July 14th

The Lastest Update

My laptop computer has crashed and I am trying to restore all the lost files. Hopefully the computer will be up in running within a few days! Please keep checking the web site for updates.

Thanks for all your support!

Saturday, July 8th

Another day in paradise....

What day is today? We have lost track. I can tell you that today is just as beautiful as the past days. We had a little rain and the rain catcher that I made yesterday worked great we collected about 4 gallons of rain water. The surf was EXCELLENT Mike was like a kid in a candy store. I surfed for a few hours but the current was a little too strong for me so I decided to go get the underwater video camera and film Mike. Mike says that this break is better than Restaurants, in Tavarua. I got some great footage of Mike. I swam in to the shore and got more footage from shore with the camera out of the underwater case. BIG MISTAKE!! When Mike was done surfing he retrieved the dinghy and I jump into the water to swim out to him. I put the camera back into the case but I really didn't check it very well. Guess what? When I got to the dinghy the underwater camera was full of water S###! I have taken the camera apart to let it dry out,I will put it back together in the morning with hopes that it will work again. I'm bummed about the camera but I'm really upset about losing the footage of Mike surfing this incredible wave.

While this was going on Sam wanted to explore the north island. We dropped him off when we went surfing. Sam said that he walked on this sandy trail for about 3 miles and really didn't see anybody. He said that there were many banana tress and lots of coconut palms and lots of coconut crabs. Yum!Yum!

Tomorrow we going to, well I don't know what we are going to be doing. All of you will have to check out the blog site to find out! Have a wonderful day!

Friday, July 7th

What day is today?

Fanning Island is more than I could have imagined. The local people are so friendly, the weather is perfect, the surf is magical, and the diving is awesome. The clarity of the water is perfect everyday is 100 feet visibility. Yesterday was as perfect as all of the past days. We had a great breakfast with two other boats. We told stories about our lives and had many laughs. After breakfast we went for an afternoon surf. Shoulder high waves and no other surfers. When we for back to the boat we did some chores around the boat, charged up the batteries and made water with the water maker.

All of the islanders catch rain water to drink. The ground water is only good for washing. When we use our water maker we use power from the batteries. When cruising you have to learn to conserve everything power, food and water. Fanning Island doesn't have fuel or water and very limited food.

The sun is very intense here because we are not far from the equator 3.5 latitude. After anchoring we took the spinnaker pole and attached it to the mast and attached the other end to the fore stay. Then we draped a tarp over the spinnaker pole and lashed the trap to the stanchions and the safety lines. This makes a great tent over the fore deck and keeps the sun off the cabin below(much cooler). The last few days I have been pondering how to make a rain catch. I came up with an idea last night and within a hour using some line and placing a thur hull fitting in the tarp over the fore deck I made a rain catch. I attached a waterline to the thur hull fitting and feed the line to a 5 gallon water jerry can. All I need now is some rain, my luck it won't rain while we are in Fanning. I really enjoy being creative and trying new ideas.

When I finished the rain catch it was time for us to head to the shore to attend a fundraiser dinner. Menu lobster, red snapper, rice, squash, bread and fruit on a palm leaf woven plate. Beverages were coconut milk or warm Australian beer, the first beer hurts. All you could eat and drink for just $ 5.00 such a deal and it was good too. We took the dingy back to the boat around 11:00 pm and Mike and I played one game of cribbage. Mike has finally learned my game and he has the luck of the cards, Mike won again. After I got skunked I licked my wounds and off to bed I went.

Thursday, July 6th

The 5th of July was our first full day on Fanning Island. On the 4th we took a little walk through one of the villages and meet one local man who has a market with some dried goods and canned goods too. His name is Kol Robi. The island is third world there is no electricity and no running water. Their diet is mainly fish and rice. Fanning has a supply ship that come once a month from Tarawa. When we meet Kol Robi we asked him about coconut crabs and he told us how to catch them and that they are good to eat. We had read and heard about the coconut crabs and how they were really good to eat. We are going to get some of those crabs one of these nights.

Well, on the 5th we got up and started to plan our day. Sam made his famous breakfast burritos, all I can say AWESOME. While Sam was cooking breakfast I decided that I was going to try my luck fishing below the boat with some light tackle. I was using a small spinning rod,15 lbs test and a kastmaster lure. First cast I got a goat fish and then it seemed that every other cast I had a fish. Some I threw back and a couple seemed to have gotten away. Within a half hour or so I had three really nice fish. I decided that we would try to trade them with the locals for some fruit. After breakfast Mike and I decided that we would go surfing and on the way would try to trade the fish with our new friend. We took our dingy to Kol Robi's hut. We gave him the fish and he invited us into his hut. When we sat down he had one of his sons bring over a bucket and showed us five coconut crabs. He told his son to cook them for us. While watching the crabs cook, his daughter brought each of us a coconut and we punched a hole into it and we had coconut milk while we waited for the crabs to cook. Everything is cooked on the open fire, they use the coconut husks to fuel the fire. The crabs were boiled for 20 minutes and then they were served to us. Mike and I ate crab for an hour and talked to Kol Robi about his life here on Fanning Island. We had such a great experience and we meet a new friend.

After our feast Mike and I went surfing. The break is a world class left and we were the only guys out there. After surfing we headed back to the boat and played some cribbage, drank some beers and started dinner. For dinner I prepared Tri Tip, mashed potatoes and some baked beans. No lobster tonight. We had unexpected company just before dinner. Two couples came by to welcome us. They have been on their boats in Fanning for the last four months. We invited them aboard for some cocktails and learned all about them. It was fun socializing with some new people. After they left I served my cold dinner and before we knew it it was 11:00 pm, time for bed. We have been invited to a fund raiser tomorrow night, it should be very interesting. We have some great pictures of the coconut crab feast. Sorry I can only send text right now, but when we get to Samoa I will be able to upload some pictures for everyone to see. Tomorrow we plan on exploring the other side of the island and we'll be going surfing to of course.

Tuesday, July 4th

We are officially in Fanning. We set the hook about 10:00 am and cleared customs by 11:00 am. We had a long night because we had to slow the boat down so we would time our arrival properly. Everything worked out great for us. We have already meet some other cruisers Lou and Ann. They are both in the their 60's and have been in Fanning for 4 months now. We found out about all the great secrets of Fanning. The Island has about 7 villages and the population is around 2000 people. Rumor has it that we will be eating lobster everyday. The locals don't eat lobster, Great more for us :-) . The customs man told us were to dive and that we could take as many lobsters as we wanted. We plan on being here for about a week or so, it just depends on the surf. Nobody surfs on this island and they have an incredible left at the mouth of the harbor. Darn private waves, diving, lobster everyday and night, no phones or television etc. Feel sorry for us. I will send pictures once we get to an Internet cafe in Samoa. Have a great 4th of July!

Monday, July 3rd

Almost there....
We are very close to Fanning Island we only have 59 miles to go. We would of been in tonight but it is very dangerous to enter the harbor at night because of the current, depth and obstacles. We have been briefed by other cruisers to only enter the harbor when the sun is high on the reef. We have slowed down the boat and we plan on a morning arrival around 10:00 am. The sun should be high enough so we will have a good clear shot into the harbor. We have had a few rain showers and some sun. All three of us are looking forward to being on the hook. All of us have read at least two if not three books on this crossing. Oprah watch out we might start our very own book club. The dinner menu for this evening is SPAM with wild rice and canned peaches. Sounds good! Yum Yum

Our position: N 04 48.534 W 159 17.659

Sunday, July 2nd

Lots of water still on the horizon and no land insight. We have another 200 miles to go and then we will finally be at Fanning Island. Last night we seen another fishing boat about 6 miles to our west and but we had no radio contact. Mike seen an aircraft on his watch last night. On my watch I had the pleasure of being greeted by 6 dolphins. They swam up to the starboard side of the boat and worked their way across the bow of the boat. We had another windy night last night. The weather today is very nice, but the clouds are forming and we will probably see rain later today or tonight. Spirits are great and can't wait to see land.

Our position is: N 07 03.622 W 158 28.451

Day Six

Day Six and things are going GREAT!!

Last night was so spectacular with all the stars. We seen the southern cross. It was the first time for me. We had a very nice day yesterday the weather was great along with nice smooth seas. We are averaging about 160 nautical miles a day which is really good. We have been trolling for anything and have had no luck. We think that if the wind stays with us, we can be to Fanning Island by Monday afternoon. Our winds have been averaging around 22 kts.

I made breakfast this morning, pancakes with peanut butter and maple syrup. Yum! Yum!

Our position is: N 09 15.896 W 158 08.892

Day Four

June 30th,2006
Last night I had the 10pm to 1 am shift, we had rough seas again with 30 kt winds. For most of the trip we have been using our stay sail and our Genoa at the second reef. Our average speed has been around 7kts. We have had a rough ride for the last 4 days. Sleeping has been tough.

When you have a night watch you get a lot of time to think about life and the possibilities of something going wrong. You run different scenarios in your head to try to figure out what would be the best solution. All three of us have talked a lot about all of these things. This time has really opened up my eyes about everyday life back at home. We take a lot for granted. We had some excitement last night around 3 am, Sam was on watch and he spotted a boat off in the distance. Mike and I got up and we seen the glow of light off the starboard side of the boat. We turned on the radar and we confirmed that it was another boat, we tried to make radio contact... No luck. We figured that they did not speak English. The boat got close enough that we could see their green running light and they shined a very bright spotlight on to us. We haven't seen anything for the past 3 days and nights. To see another boat in the middle of the Pacific gave us a warm feeling that somebody was out here with us. To some this might seem such a trivial thing but for the three of us it was a real spirit lifter. The route that we are on has no shipping lanes and to see this boat within 2 miles was very exciting for us.

Today was a great day for all of us, we were able to finally eat a regular meal. I surprised the boys with a Costco Lasagna and Chinese salad. When I pulled the lasagna dish out of the oven we all couldn't believe we were going to be having a hot meal for the first time in days. We have finally gotten over our sea sickness and this hot meal brought much joy. You would of thought that for the last 4 days not eating very much that we would be starved. After only a few bites we were all so full, I guess our stomach have shrunk. Great Diet!!

Our position is: N 11 53.893, W 157 41.260. Still working on the tracking web site.