Captains log: More fish and winding down

Date: July 22, 2022

Time: 20]34

Position: 22.44.282N / 152.36.103W

As of 30 minutes ago there was only one other boat and us that had still not arrived on Oahu. We're certainly a bit bummed out that we will not be able to attend. I'm especially disappointed since several family members flew in to Hawaii to meet up and attend the event together. I'm sure they'll have a good time, as we are still here at sea ticking away the miles hour by hour. 

Honestly, at this point, I'm at a loss of words. Nothing particularly exciting has occurred in the last 24 hours. One of the nice things is the weather. We are all loving it. We're still wearing shorts and t-shirts or just a sweatshirt at night and days are hot. We had to set up a tarp over the cockpit to protect from getting bbq'd. 

Our worst fear is that with 300 or so miles left, the wind will die. This morning our worst fear was met with reality. Somehow in this giant ocean, the wind keeps calming down. It was calm most of the day and since we do have quite a bit of fuel remaining, we decided to motor for around 3 hours. Luckily the wind picked back up and it's been blowing nicely since the late afternoon. We're just praying/hoping that the wind keeps blowing solidly for the next 72 hours. 

We've had a wonderful time but we're on day 19 and we're feeling pretty ready to land in Hawaii! 

Since the seas were calm today, I do have one item of disgust to report. The bathroom on a small boat, with four guys for 19 days, with waves and movement 24 hours, is not conducive for a very sterile environment. I could certainly tell quite a few stories but they will surely not paint a pretty picture in the mind of the reader, so I'll restrain from colorful descriptions. However, this morning, Gene said he could not take another day of it and he would clean the bathroom. He slipped on these shoes that he nicknamed his "bathroom shoes", rubber gloves, bleach, scrubbers and a 5 gallon bucket full of salt water. He took charge and did an amazing job. I couldn't let him take on the entire task, although he certainly did the lions share of the scrubbing, so I cleaned the floor and Nick brought down pales of water. Joe had pulled the all-nighter agin so he was fast asleep. 

Today more fish were caught, but all were released. We still have some remaining from yesterday and we're pretty stuffed from Mahi Mahi at this point. 

We're getting close enough to count the days and even count the hours. I'm predicting an arrival in Honolulu around 11AM on the 25th.