March 24, 2004

By 3am we were in the lee of Maloelap and benefited from the calm seas that it created. Unfortunately, the wind then died even more and by 5am we had less then 9k from the SE. We started the motor and, because of our broken auto-pilot (the Monitor wind vane can self steer the boat only under sail) we had to hand steer. At about 9:15am the wind had come back around to North of East and was about 10-11k and we re-set the sails and the wind vane. At 10am we are about 65 miles from the pass into Majuro lagoon and we are making about 5.5-6k over ground in the lee of Aur Atoll (just to the South of Maloelap). I expect when we pass South of Aur we will find rougher seas which will inevitably slow us down, but perhaps the wind will increase giving us better speed.

At our current speed of about 6k the nav-o-computer predicts our arrival at the pass at 8pm which would allow us to anchor at Anemwanot island (about 8 miles from the pass and about halfway to the town) before 10pm.

If yesterday was hell today is heaven. This morning we motored for about 3 hours to the SE into a 7-8k breeze in the lee of Aur Atoll until at about 8am a nice 10k wind from the ENE came up and we set the sails and wind vane again. We sailed all day in calm seas with a 10-13k wind from the ENE or NE making 6-7k over ground. The skies are clear and all is well in the world. Our estimated time of arrival at Calalin Pass is about 8pm tonight. We will enter the lagoon and make for the shelter of Anemwanot islet which is about 5 miles from the town.

About 15 miles from the pass the weather began to change. A huge wall of clouds could be seen on the horizon to the South and SW. As we approached we had 15k of wind from the ENE the wind began to move more to the South till when we were about 7 miles off it went almost completely South and we had to motor sail the rest of the way to the pass.

We spoke on the radio with a boat anchored in Majuro and he reported winds from the SE which would make the anchorage at Anemwanot exposed so we changed plans and will now head right for the town. Unfortunately it is about 5 miles further in the lagoon and there are many ships anchored in the area, some with no lights.

At about 4 miles out we had rain squalls and at 7:30pm we entered the pass just after the rain had passed. We motor sailed with the mainsail only through the lagoon to the East till we reached the town and anchored in 45ft of water in the company of two other boats in the same spot we were in when we originally arrived at Majuro in November. It is now 10:45pm and we are exhausted. After showering we will sleep like the dead till late tomorrow morning (Jonah has been asleep since 8pm).