June 6

Yesterday we took the outside route to the other pass. It was fairly rough, but we made good time with only our Genoa. I had taken the mainsail cover off, but when we unfurled our Genoa, we were going 7.5 knots and it was blowing between 17 and 21 knots. It was fast enough, although right before we got to the pass the wind died, so we motor sailed the last 20 minutes as we wanted to be in before the sun got too low. Chris and Marcus from Pez Vela came out to meet us in their dinghy and guide us in. The anchorage was a tight little area between some coral. There are 2 other boats besides Pez Vela but they plan to leave tomorrow.

Today we had a fairly relaxing morning as Chris came over to do laundry and the guys went fishing. Unfortunately they came back without fish as it was very rough outside the pass though they did get a few bites and lost one lure. I tried to take Jonah snorkeling but he just screamed the whole time - the water was salty, his mask hurt him, I was pulling him, etc. He uses his float and just tips forward to look at fish but today nothing seemed to work. It made me really mad, unfortunately, as I ended up shouting at him. That high pitched screaming really gets to me sometimes, particularly when I am attempting to do something fun with him.

Today I was the skipper of the dingy for the dive. The dingy was very full with five of us and we had to go outside the pass to drop the divers off. The rollers were big and they could not get in the water fast enough for me. Jonah was surprisingly good about hanging out for 45 minutes while they drifted in. I was supposed to follow bubbles but the pass was too rough to see anything so I just doodled around and slowly made my way in to where I thought they would come up. They said it was an awesome dive. Big wall in the pass and the current was not too bad. Jordan came up first and said he only saw 1 shark. Chris and Marcus came up just short of a huge school of 40 (yikes) large grey reef sharks. Ok! Well I dive tomorrow and thankfully I suck air like an emphysema patient so I will probably come up way before the place where they hang out. I think will stay here for a couple of days and then go to another atoll.

It's much windier than I expected here and at least 1 squall a day rolls over. The beaches here are not sandy but crushed coral which makes them kind of rough. There are a lot of coral heads right near our anchorage and I think I might try snorkeling again later this afternoon.

The boat is a mess today - I get really bored cleaning the boat constantly so I am taking a day off.