We've decided to take a little side trip to Monterey before we come home...
There we we're, cruising happily along at 8 knots until mid-morning. Winds shifted and began to vacillate. The winds came up to 20+ with gusts up to 25. Rather than beat up the boat and ourselves, we reefed the main, furled the jib in a bit and turned down, pointing toward Monterey. It was still pretty rocky but manageable plus we were still traveling at 8+ knots. Around 15:00 things began changing back to where we want - slowly. The winds have been in the 16-18 range and we've been able to come up and point again toward home. All in all, this was a 160 mile day - too bad it wasn't all in the right direction. We're hoping this little foray won't change our arrival time too much and that we stay in the running for shortest return trip.
The interesting note of the day is the jellyfish - millions of them. We sailed for several hours today with jellyfish as far as the eye can see on both sides of the boat! The have little fins that stick up out of the water and act like sails. A couple were washed onto the boat during the higher waves and we got a chance to look at them up close. Under the sail, they were the same color of blue as the ocean. Pretty cool.
After several nights of cloudy skies, the stars are out in force tonight. We are again able to see the Milky Way in all its glory. We're hoping to catch some of the meteor showers but the moon is big and bright and overpowering the weaker stars.
Everyone is settling in for sleep, except the person on watch. We are under 200 miles from home. We're counting the time by "last times" - tonight was the last time that I had galley duty or tonight is the last time I will have to get up for the 02:00 watch. I will write one more blog tomorrow.
Tomorrow, we get to take showers! Ah, the little things that make us happy after 2+ weeks on a boat! We're looking forward to seeing our greeting party on the dock.
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