We are now on our third day at sea, and starting to get into our routines. The first few early morning watches are brutal, but after a while, being awoken for a 2am watch gets easier. Our first night at sea we had some large swells and rough water to contend with, which made sleeping a bit of a challenge. To my surprise, no one had any motion sickness issues at all.
We had several sea birds stop in to say their hellos yesterday. It is such a surprise to me to see them since we are so far out from land. Of the 6 crew members, I am the least experienced with no real sailing experience, but I have enjoyed the challenge of ramping up my skills during this journey. Last night our auto pilot went out on us, so we have been manually steering the boat. Thankfully we didn’t get too far off course before that was caught.
We are about 2 days out from Johnston Atoll which will be the closest we will get to land until the Marshall Islands. We m ay not be able to see it, but it will give us something to look for. Since we left Oahu, there has been little to see beyond the choppy blue Pacific. During the early morning watch before the moon rises, we can see the biolumi nescence dancing in the boats wake. At one point Dale and I thought we saw dolphins, but on further inspection it was merely a rope splashing in the sea.
It is an amazing experience to be in open water like this…everyday that I go up on deck, and see the wide expanse of blue, I am reminded again of just how big this world is and what an amazing treat it is to see it from this perspective.