DAY 36 - Seven ships!

It's June 12 and as we move closer to land it is warming up. 15'c in the
cabin (unassisted by the kerosene heater) is downright balmy these days.
Heck, I'm only wearing three pairs of pants today! Lovely. I've got my
fingers crossed that the mercury keeps rising! I wouldn't mind removing one
of my toques.

I'm expecting to be struck by that rich, deep, dank smell of dirt anytime
now. I suppose the ground could still be frozen, it is Alaska after all, but
I'm still hoping to be overwhelmed by scent on one of these moments when I
step out in the cockpit to look around. Who would have thought that I'd look
forward to the smell of dirt?

The birds are changing. We haven't seen a Laysan's Albatross in a couple
days. And we have now spotted some puffins!! And several other petrels that
we don't have a hope in identifying.

John saw (well, really the AIS saw and John confirmed) SEVEN ships in his 6
hour watch last night. We've only seen 7 ships in the entire previous 35
days, so this was pretty significant. And none in the 12 hours since his
watch ended. Maybe we passed through a party in the shipping lanes or
perhaps there was a big fishery opening. I suspect we'll never know.

Life is good. We're eating up the rest of the goodies on board - we no
longer worry about whether the Pringle supply will last to the end of the
passage. Normally we lose a bit of weight on a passage, but not this time.
Our bodies have had plenty of time to adjust to the motion, and re-establish
our usual sweet and salty high calorie cravings.

-----
June 12 noon report:
Position: 53-47N, 143-36W
344 miles to Sitka, Alaska
3976 miles travelled so far
24 hr DMG: 128 nautical miles
24 hr DOG: 131 nautical miles
24 hr speed SOG: 5.5 knots
Course: 057
Wind: West 11 knots
Seas: West 1.0 meters

Daily position reports:
http://www.pangolin.co.nz/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=V73TN