MOWING THE ALGAE LAWN

After the always busy last days before a big passage, Swell and I are back on the big blue road. I spent the two days prior scrubbing and scraping algae from the bottom of the dinghy, 150ft of anchor chain, and the bottom of the hull-- a sailor's equivalent of mowing a seriously overgrown lawn, except that you have to hold your breath while you do it. It's become clear that the longer I stay somewhere, the longer it takes to leave. Not only is the algae thicker, I have I taken more things out of their respective places that need to be put away, and there are also more rounds of goodbyes to make. Kiribati was good to me. I'll miss its warm, genuine people, empty waves, and healthy undersea ecosystems. Every day was an adventure; if the waves were small, a dive or bike ride or round of basketball with the locals were welcome alternatives. I've never seen more big game fish freediving--wahoo, great trevally, and tuna--not to mention octopus, mantas, napoleon wrasse, and turtles on nearly every dive.

The countdown days were filled with last minute gift exchanges, a pulse of south swell waves to remember Fanning by, a visit from a gracious mega yacht who fed me steak and salad, and two clumsy maneuvers that have me limping now. The first of these was a face slide into the dinghy when I slipped climbing in over the stern and went skidding into the gas tank on the opposite end (not quite as dramatic as my off the handle bars dust ball eraser clap in Christmas Island with Dave Homcy, but pretty hilarious anyway. The second was during my pre-departure tie down phase. I leapt back into the cockpit like a little deer and caught the edge of my foot/hoof on my new Norwegian Cruise Lines mat, rolled my ankle, and went down like I'd been snipered by a hunter. I heard a pop and felt a tear and my foot swelled up, but it seems to be okay, just black and blue. I can walk on it and the swelling is down. I know these things happen in 3s so I am hoping that when the beastly hardback 'Primer of Navigation' fell on my head last night, that I can count that as numero tres.

At the moment, Swell is bashing into 20 knots of wind from the ESE. It's been a mixed weather bag since leaving. Yesterday it was gray and rainy, swirling winds, and a dampness enough to penetrate my very soul. Fortunately the sun is out in full equatorial force today. We are still managing to stay east of the rhumb line, which basically means that the wind is trying to blow me past my destination and I have to fight by staying high and tight to the wind. It's kind of like traversing a mountain when skiing or snowboarding; if you go too low you will have to hike up the mountain in the end (or tack into the wind in my case). Thus Swell will be heeled on her right side for the next 10-12 days and I will be walking on the walls. Cooking is near impossible and with what's left of my provisions combined with the constant state of semi-nausea, the act of eating has already been reduced to just above survival status. But with plenty of Clif and Luna bars and lots of books, I'll be just fine.

Love from Lizzy at North 1 29', West 157 33'