Halfway around - March 2001

The celebration was good.  Good food, of course, and five items on the agenda including graphic and written arts, games and acting.  It was a lot of fun and we all wonder, again, just why we are going home.

The real landmark we have passed is the metamorphis of this trip.  No longer a trip, now a lifestyle.  So we aren't just ending the trip we are ending this way of living.  It seems a subtle difference but brings on some very different and strong feelings.

The Indian Ocean, more specifically the Arabian Sea, continues to caress us. This is by far the most idyllic passage to date.  We are 10 days into what will probably be about a 15 day passage from the Maldives to Aden, Yemen. The winds have been light for the most part, allowing 80-100 mile days.  We have had a handful of good days up to 160 miles in fantastic close reach wind.  The sea never builds up here so we can keep the hatches open and sleep in our normal berths.  Very different to the poorly named Pacific Ocean where when it was fast it was very uncomfortable and wet.  The dolphins have been playing about several times.  This morning we all saw some spinner dolphins.  They jet into the air spinning 3-4 revolutions before slapping back into the water.  Great stuff.  Our friends on Hoptoad are about 50 miles ahead of us now.  We should arrive in Aden just before them.  This passage is a bit tense as the area around Socotra island is a high risk area for piracy and the international maritime org has declared it a no-go zone.  Needless to say we are giving it a very wide berth.  It gets us all a little nervous when we see a boat of any sort.  Like the Malacca Strait.  We make radio contact with the Toads twice a day, and in the evening contact we have a little trivia game thing that has been a lot of fun.  So far, after 10 days of competition, we are exactly tied.