7/1/2008, by Melinda the Captain

Tomorrow's Steven's birthday! I might bake a cake, blueberry scones, or brownies.

We had a squall line yesterday, where we went 9ish knots before it passed and 3ish afterwards. All in all, we went fast and saw neat
rainbows, a White-tailed Tropic Bird, a Red-tailed Tropic Bird and one unidentifiable buoy. It can be concluded that squalls turn
White-tailed Tropic birds' tails and beaks red, changing them into a Red-tailed Tropic birds.

We're seeing more random garbage in the water.

Josh baked more bread, which lasts a maximum of about 5 hours now. He's baking more today.

Yesterday's dinner #2: Rice crap in a box and tea. I am becoming concerned with our food stores. All I can find is Oreo Cookies,
Doritos Chips and cabbage.

We're currently going 6ish knots. We didn't go diving earlier, as we couldn't find the seamount.

We watched "Paint your Wagon" and I immediately fell into a coma until late this morning.

Today: more piano, read "Sailing with Scoundrels and Kings," and stretch.

Movie: South Pacific

The end.

Day 17 (Sunday, June 29) by Mike

Sailing with Dummies (Hawaii to Alaska Edition)

We’re headed toward a possible underwater mountain. According to one chart it’s 60 feet underwater. In other words, if it was 61 feet taller it would be an island. It’s a little bit to the left of a direct path to Attu. Sometime in the middle of the night we should get to where it might be.

The wind has been changing speed and direction a lot since we left Midway. Our boat speeds have ranged from 3 knots to 11 knots. A knot is close to a mile per hour. And 11 is better than 3.

Daily Cuisine:

Josh made bread in the bread-maker! This was a first use on the trip since we were missing the paddle. Dave, the Midway Airport manager, gave us a paddle and instantly became our hero when it worked!

Fishing Report:

No bites today.

Arts and Entertainment:

Oklahoma played on the Minnow this evening.

6/30/2008 by Melinda the Captain

We've crossed the International Date Line! If Steven's lucky, we might celebrate his birthday twice.

Yesterday was sunny, warmish (inferno), no wind, and we went what may have been a maximum of 4 knots. We saw two whole boats. They
were big!

Mike soaked his hat all day. Something about disliking the smell of diesel that Bob gets on everything.

Josh successfully baked bread in the breadmaker! The bread lasted less than 12 hours. He's making more today.

I cooked spaghetti with fresh veggies for dinner #1, and then cooked nacho-y stuff with fresh veggies and chicken for dinner #2. We
realized we have cabbage instead of lettuce.

Josh is learning Menuet on the piano. I am relearning Fughetta and Moonlight Sonata's second and third movement.

We watched "Oklahoma!" last night. I plan on hiding the baritone during the next musical we watch. Tonight we'll watch "Paint your
Wagon," Bob's favorite movie.

Mike still dislikes the smell of coffee today. I bicycled for 28 minutes and did laundry. We might go diving at a seamount tomorrow
if swells from a nearby low stay small.

The end.

Day n+1, Monday, June 30, by Bob

It is tomorrow! We crossed the international date line this morning. I wonder if that that is on the way to Alaska.

Last night we saw two ships. Those are the first boats we've seen since Hawaii, except for the local boats on Midway. One was a bulk
carrier, the Auckland, headed for Japan. I'm not sure about the other one.

The wind was pretty weak since Midway, until this morning. We had been doing 3-5 knots most of the time, but today we've been going
about twice that. No fish. Water temperature 75.2F. Air temperature around 79F. There is a little rain ahead, so the wind is getting
squirrely.

We should reach the seamount around 10:00 or midnight. Nobody is sure what the local time is here. Maybe we should use the sun to
determine local noon.

It was a hassle to get permission to go to Midway. We had to apply for a permit by the end of January in order to visit in June, and
didn't get the permit until two days before we left. There are a lot of requirements beforehand and restrictions during the trip.

The government agencies involved in Midway put out a draft management plan that determines, among other things, the rules and
restrictions for sailboats visiting Midway in the future:

http://hawaiireef.noaa.gov/management/mp.html

I submitted this public comment:

http://xpda.com/nwhi/publiccomment.htm

If you're interested, you can email your own comment to PMNM_MMP_Comments@fws.gov before July 8.

Day 16 (Saturday, June 28) by Mike

Sailing with Dummies (Hawaii to Alaska Edition)

We started the Midway-Attu segment of our trip with some decent wind. It wasn’t all that strong, but it was from a good direction. The wind speed was about 10 knots and we squeezed around 7 knots of boat speed out of it. It shifted direction (per the forecast) and we slowed gradually overnight.

There wasn’t much activity on the boat our first full day back on the water. Some reading. A lot of people glued to computers. Some cleaning up.

With the light tail wind it got kind of warm. The bedrooms were particularly warm, with no circulation, until after sunset. It should start cooling off a degree or two each day. We’ll see.

Daily Cuisine:

Back to boat food. For me it was an apple and cookies for breakfast, a bologna sandwich for lunch, and spaghetti (compliments to Melinda) for supper.

Fishing Report:

Finally we are allowed to fish again. By the time we got our poles in the water the wind had died and our boat speed was less than desirable for trolling. No fish. Blah.

Arts and Entertainment:

We (Josh) dragged the piano upstairs. Everyone played some. Everyone complained about their ability, claiming to be “rusty.”

Day 15 (Friday, June 27) by Mike

Sailing with Dummies (Hawaii to Alaska Edition)

Our last day in Midway. We did our last exploring and finished up our last laundry. Then we ate our last cafeteria meal, downloaded the latest weather forecasts, headed to the boat with our junk, and four of us shoved off for Attu Island in Alaska. We abandoned Cathy to the hands of the locals.

The people at Midway are some of the nicest, most helpful people as a whole that I have ever been around. Matt greeted us at the boat when we arrived and gave us a nice orientation. It was a good talk, informative and he made us feel very welcome.

He mentioned that everyone on the island was nice and would be glad to help if we had questions or needs. I thought to myself that it sounded good, and I expected most of the people to be friendly and nice based on his example and his comment.

I was wrong. In the six days we spent on Midway 100% of the people were nicer and more helpful and more pleasant than I could have imagined. Thanks to all of you who read this.

This does not mean I agree with many of the rules that apply to visiting the monument, memorial, or whatever it is. Midway is an amazing place to visit because of the unique wildlife and the interesting history. It’s a pity that it is so tightly controlled that few people will ever see it.

I agree that nature and history should be preserved, but there is a point beyond reason where things become just plain stupid. And many of the rules are beyond sensible reason.

Most of the people on the island showed a passion for what they do and it was clear they care about the island and its future. But many of them voiced different levels of frustration with many of the rules. I’m sure they will follow them until when and if they are changed.

I personally hope that things loosen up so more people can experience what we did. The goonies, the white birds that often hover around in trios, the brown noddies guarding their eggs, the huge turtles, the seals, the old buildings, the roads, the history.

Daily Cuisine:

The stuffed peppers at the cafeteria were great. It was a good meal to say goodbye with. Pong and his staff made my pants fit tighter.

Fishing Report:

Fishing is still not allowed in this national monument. That’s a whole lot of thousands of square miles where there is no fishing allowed for no good reason. I still think this is a lousy rule.

Arts and Entertainment:

During the late morning several of the Thai workers came by to look at the Minnow. There were lots of cameras, lots of smiles, and lots of laughing. These are some happy people.

Day 14 (Thursday, June 26) by Mike

Sailing with Dummies (Hawaii to Alaska Edition)

More scuba diving today. Dave, the Midway Airport manager, joined us. It turns out he’s from Tulsa so we had a lot to talk about in between dives.

On our first dive Dave and I went down and were waiting at the bottom of the anchor chain for Melinda and Josh to join us. The area was teeming with small fish from 8-16 inches in length. They crowded around us at the surface and followed us to the bottom.

After waiting a couple of minutes I felt a tug on my ear and turned around, expecting to see Josh or Melinda. There was no one there. One of the fish had bitten my ear! Before long they were nipping at my hair and on my fins. I started trying to kick and hit them but they are too fast for that. Finally I went to the bottom and hovered near that sand and they moved on.

Dave and I moved along with our dive without waiting any longer. The fish were not as abundant here as they were at some of the other spots. Nevertheless there are lots of things to see and the fish are fun to look at.

Our air was running low so we proceeded back to the boat and held onto the anchor chain at 15 feet for a safety decompression stop. And we were once again surrounded by those pesky fish. They started biting our hands and fins and hair. So we started punching and kicking but to no avail. Luckily we got aboard without any blood or marks.

Our second dive was near a cargo pier where there are supposed to be lots of big fish. Unfortunately visibility was very poor there and there wasn’t much to see.

I am happy to report that I did not see a shark today.

Tomorrow is our last day at Midway and we plan to spend it on the island. That means that I did not get eaten by a shark while scuba-diving at Midway this year!

Daily Cuisine:

We ate at the cafeteria whenever we were on the island, which today was breakfast and supper. We are officially spoiled to the good food. We have decided to wait until after supper to leave tomorrow so we can have one last cafeteria meal.

Fishing Report:

Fishing is still not allowed in this national monument. I still think this is a lousy rule.

Arts and Entertainment:

Around 8:00 we were entertained by the local rock-and-roll band. They were good. In particular the guitarist called “A” was very good. The singer called “Zen” was very entertaining and made it really fun. His imitation of a gooney bird was funny. About halfway through we were surprised to see Dave, our dive buddy join them for awhile. He can play a mean lead guitar and sings good, too. They even let me play keyboard on a couple of songs and didn’t make fun of me. It made for a fun evening.

June 28, 2008, by Bob

We're on our way! We left Midway yesterday about 30 minutes before sundown. We were not allowed in the channel after sundown
because we're liable to run over birds, seals, turtle, reefs, and the like. We motored out, caught a little wind, and headed
northwest. As the only one of us with a modicum of common sense, Cathy took a plane out of Midway last night. That leaves Melinda,
Josh, Mike, and me on the boat.

I have uploaded a bunch of photos to the site http://xpda.com/nwhi

I have not had time to put many captions on them, but I will probably refer to some before long with long-winded explanations.

We passed by Kure Atoll in the night, the northernmost coral reef in the world. It is right around the Darwin point, which is where
the reef grows at about the same rate as the island sinks.

The Emperor seamount chain is a long chain of underwater mountains that extends from Hawaii almost up to the Aleutians. Some of the
seamounts are named after Japanese emperors.

We are now headed for an unnamed (as far as we know) seamount, about 300 miles northwest of Midway. This seamount doesn't even
appear on some of our charts, so it might be a figment of somebody's imagination in 1947 when it was reported. It's supposed to come
up to a depth of 60 feet, surrounded by water three miles deep. We plan to dive there if we find it, if the weather's good, and if
the current is not too strong.

At Midway we got to do laundry, access the internet, get a little fuel, get fresh bread, vegetables, etc., and most importantly,
restock my Diet Coke supply. We also did some diving, biking, picture taking, and general frolicking. Everybody at Midway was really
nice and really helpful. There are about 60 people who live there doing things like running and maintaining the airport, managing
the wildlife, maintaining the town, and managing each other.

Midway airport is used as an alternate runway for flights across the North Pacific. That way if a 777 loses one of its two engines
on the way to Japan, it can land on dry ground. So the airport is maintained to standards so that large airliners can takeoff and
land there, even though not many do.

Melinda just broke out the piano. She's playing some Beethoven. Josh got the bread maker working, thanks to a spare part from Dave.
We are finally fishing, but have caught nothing today. Mike can't find his scuba mask. If you see it, please bring it by the Minnow
tomorrow night at 31°05'N 177°46'E.

6/28/2008 by Melinda the Captain

Now we're sailing! Josh and I have had a full night's rest. Bob is in his cabin laughing maniacally. Mike might be jibing the boat.

I'm not exactly sure where we're headed. First it was Kamchatka, then Canada, now Japan. Rest assured I've been told we'll be arrive
at Attu in 10 minutes by using the Lightning Fast Tack into Oblivion technique.

Bob and Mike went into a cleaning frenzy last night. It made me want to wash my feet.

We're not going very fast so I might bake some scones and go for a bike ride. I'm very excited to cook with some fresh veggies
tonight…!

The end.

6/23/2008 – 6/27/2008 by Melinda the Captain

The past four days have been beyond unbelievable. We visited the Dr. Doolittle Island of Midway, where generally 11,377 times more
birds than people call it home.

This meant riding a bike could be a rather large challenge at times, especially hauling laundry/camera/food loads while trying to
avoid the squeaky juveniles and ducking from the most graceful, but less maneuverable adult Laysons. This proved to be even more
difficult in the evenings with mice and larger-than-mice cockroaches out and about. There were no streetlamps either which helped
cope with the incidental mice-squishing. I am pleased to report there was no bird squishing.

There was much hooting and hollering once we made sight of Midway. Then it took an hour to actually reach it. The entrance looked
easy enough but we followed the rules and waited outside for 20 minutes discussing our plans for the day: diving, picture-taking,
eating, internet, laundry, all that good stuff.

We had 4/5 takers for diving originally.

My senile father was at the helm watching the birds. He was laughing at how there were two goony birds in front of us, one taking
off and the other sinking. …Birds don't sink. He can be real mental sometimes.

But that's beside the point. The goony was sinking! There was a rather gigantic Tiger Shark chomping the little goony!

Little goonies (albatross) can have a wingspan between five and six feet. Compare that to the tip of the shark's snout and dorsal
fin!

We had 0/5 takers for diving subsequently.

That was pretty exciting to see in the very first moments on/around Midway. We were officially fired up to see more.

We arrived sort of unexpectedly that afternoonish, interrupting the Cubs game and people's day off. We still had an exceptional
welcoming! I think it's fair enough to say that everyone aboard the Minnow was genuinely surprised with the extent of friendliness
and helpfulness from everyone on the island. We even received a bread-maker paddle!

Those guys are rock stars, and we couldn't thank them enough for the help and amazing food (because everyone knows that Midway has
some of the best Thai food in the world).

We toured the island by bicycle everyday, losing the layers of pudding, scones, and cake we had gained from 10 days before.

It's difficult to describe Midway entirely. It's much like an avian takeover with abandoned WWII buildings that once housed 5,000
people. Everywhere we went there was some sort of animal whistling/eating/pooping/flapping/buzzing around us. There were geckos in
the shower, turtles and monk seals breathing outside our open portholes, birds birds birds birds birds birds curious and watching us
everywhere.

The white terns were fun. They're like miniature white hovercrafts following you, no matter if you're kayaking, walking, or
bicycling. They lay their eggs practically anywhere (they don't build nests) so it's fairly common to see their chicks in surprising
locations such as the very edge of a pier block or the tip top of a building. They've got monstrous grip with their teeny blue/black
feet.

The Red-tailed Tropicbirds were noisy and very acrobatic.

The Laysons were ridiculously personal. They acted much like people: friendly, irritable, curious, and entertaining. Their whistles
were very quiet, sweet and innocent. They clacked their beaks when irritated or scared so one can imagine the applause received
while riding a bike down any road.

One thing I was skeptical and curious about was the "huge" plastic problem on Midway. It's location in the Pacific supposedly makes
it very susceptible to plastic washing ashore from the Pacific High.

Yes, there are definitely problems.

Albatross chicks regurgitate a pellet-like thing which contains all of the indigestible material such as squid beaks, bones, and the
like. Every pellet-like thing I saw contained plastic. The biologists estimated nearly 5 tons of plastic is brought ashore annually
by the adult albatross, who then feed their chicks whatever's in their stomach.

Here's a list of what I saw everywhere on the island (all of which most likely brought in by albatross): loads and loads of
lighters, bottle caps, Styrofoam, broken tubing, pens, toothbrush, degraded fishing line, small toys, and the majority of it
unidentifiable plastic bits.

That's nothing compared to the amount of plastic washed ashore. The number given to me was 8 to 12 metric tons of fishing junk alone
wash ashore on Midway each year. That's a lot for an atoll that small.

I could keep jabbering about Midway being a nesting ground for the Pacific Green Sea Turtles and a haul out for Hawaiian Monk Seals
when they pup and what role the garage has in that, but that would probably make me even more of a granola-head than I already am.

The plastic problem of Midway is pretty gloomy. But Midway's got some pretty neat things too, with a stable if not increasing
population of Layson albatross (world population of all albatross are on the decline) and a very successful introduction of Layson
Duck, which was down to 12 individuals in the world at one time and now triple clutch on Midway!

The Layson Ducks were probably the most curious animal on the island, and very easy to miss. They're extremely quiet, small, and
cute. They would pop up out of no where and run around shyly.

Midway had a bunch of trees for a Pacific Island, then I found out they were introduced Ironwood trees. About three-fourths if
Midway's plant species are introduced! Native species restoration sounds like a real pain.

The diving was a whole lot of fun. There was hardly any coral for reasons debatable but the fishies were neat and friendly,
especially the sharks swarming Mike and Bob. Josh and I swam in huge schools of fish and even saw two monk seals. The bigger fish
scared me.

The end.

Day 13 (Wednesday, June 25) by Mike

Sailing with Dummies (Hawaii to Alaska Edition)

Bob and I went to explore the underwater world outside the reef at Midway. It’s pretty much agreed that the chance of seeing sharks, especially tiger sharks is higher outside the reef than it is inside the reef. This made us more wary.

Sure enough, as soon as we descended into the water we saw a five-foot shark. But it was a Galapagos shark (reportedly safe for humans to swim around) and didn’t seem to even notice us. It just kept swimming very slowly in and out of our sight. We continued exploring the caverns and coral for sea life. I was once more amazed with the number of fish.

We stayed down for quite awhile on our first dive. We were at 30-50 feet through most of the dive and our air lasted a long time. By the time we got out of the water we were both freezing. The water temperature was about 75 degrees, which sounds reasonably comfortable. And it is … until you immerse yourself in it for an hour (I was pretty sure that my core temperature was down to about 75 degrees).

The coral at Midway is not as colorful as it is in many popular diving and snorkeling spots. I think that’s because of the lower water temperature. While there seem to be as many bright, colorful species of fishes around here as, say the Florida Keys, there certainly are more non-colorful fishes swimming around. I assume that is because they fit in with the less-colorful underwater structure.

After a hot shower and some thrashing around in the sun and moving the boat to another spot, we were warm enough to get in the water again. This time we both wore wetsuits.

Our second spot had more structure. There were a few Galapagos sharks around, around 4-5 feet in length. They kept their distance and were moving around slowly. I was beginning to feel a little more comfortable with the sharks. They didn’t pay any attention to us and we certainly gave them a wide berth.

This time we started out about 80-90 feet and explored slowly up the crevasses and structures until our depth was around 50 feet. Bob was in a recessed area taking pictures of something when a shark meandered by just a few feet behind him. I was probably 30 feet away when I noticed this. I tried to get Bob’s attention by banging on my tank. It didn’t work since I was trying to bang on the tank with a rubber-encased depth gauge. The shark swam on and Bob didn’t know the difference. I noticed three sharks in the general vicinity of us and it reinforced my increased comfort level with sharks.

Shortly thereafter we both looked at our remaining air (about 800 psi) and decided it was time to head back to the boat. We exchanged meaningless hand signals to each other and shrugged our shoulders a few times. Eventually we pointed at our air gauges and pointed upwards and headed to the surface. As we looked up we noticed a lot of sharks in the area. A lot of sharks. It was like they appeared from nowhere.

My newfound comfort with sharks immediately evaporated. As we swam to the surface there were sharks everywhere. They were swimming faster and generally circling around us. It seemed like they were swarming us.

We surfaced and located the boat about 75 yards away. I remember saying something profound, like “that’s a lot of sharks,” and Bob replied something profound, like “that’s a lot of sharks.” And we headed toward the boat posthaste. I went down to about 15-20 feet to (1) help with decompression since this was a deepish dive, and (2) make as little commotion in order to NOT attract the sharks’ attention.

Then I noticed something odd. Bob was on the surface ripping and tearing his way to the boat. This is normally a no-no around sharks. I figured he knew something I didn’t and kept swimming.

Scuba diving is an activity where personal movement is truly three-dimensional. A diver can swim in any direction. Up, down, north, south, east, west. Or any combination of these. Up ten degrees and east-northeasterly. Down 60 degrees and southwesterly.

The underwater diver can also look any direction while moving. For instance, while swimming northward it’s easy to see down by swimming face-down. Likewise, it’s easy to see west by swimming right-side-down. And by looking above your body you would see north, and toward your feet you would see south.

As I was swimming toward the boat as calmly as possible (not calm at all) I was continually and slowly rotating in 360 degree rolls as I kicked onward. I also looked above my head and towards my feet. In every direction, toward the surface, north, west, toward the bottom, etc. Everywhere I looked I saw 8, or 10, or maybe 12 sharks. I estimate that they were mostly 15-25 feet away, but there was often one or two that were more like 10 feet away.

At one point I looked toward my feet and noticed one swimming directly toward me, slightly faster than I was swimming. I sped up marginally (from almost-full-speed to full-speed) and it kept gaining ground at about the same rate. It was heading directly toward me, gradually getting closer. It would get to my feet first.

Flying airplanes we practice emergency procedures. These are basically what-ifs and a sequence of remedies would be best to follow. Sailing boats we practice man-overboard drills. As the shark approached me my mind was racing, but there was nothing in particular that I could think of to do. The only “emergency procedure” we had discussed was banging on an air tank if we saw a tiger shark and that wasn’t helpful to me at this point.

I did remember someone saying that sharks don’t like air bubbles. I had also heard that they are attracted to motion. I remember questioning in my mind whether either of these things were true. Maybe they were just hearsay. Then I wondered if it came closer, would it try to bite one of my flippers? Or maybe I could push it away if it kept coming so slow. And if one shark attacked would that create a “frenzy” like you see on tv?

When it got close to a shark-length away I stopped kicking and created a lot of air bubbles by exhaling a big breath and pressing the discharge button on my alternate regulator. The shark casually turned right 45 degrees and lazily swam on by as if I wasn’t even there.

Me? I’m resumed my flight to the boat at best speed. The sharks were still everywhere in all directions, but none particularly close to me. As I continued my looking-all-around-while-swimming, it dawned on me that I was unable to spot Bob on the surface. My “moment” with the shark surely hadn’t lasted more than 10-15 seconds. I ascended as I swam on. I wanted to get a fresh bead on the boat direction (and distance) and wondered where Bob was, too.

I popped up briefly and spotted the boat about 25 yards away. It seemed like a mile. On my way back down to 15 feet I noticed Bob was down at about 50 feet. That was strange. I swam on. He swam on.

Bob got to the ladder an instant before I did. That was the fastest I have ever seen anyone climb on board with scuba equipment. I was right behind him and out of the water as fast as possible. We then engaged in profound sailor talk. “I didn’t like that,” one of us said. “I didn’t either,” the other one replied. Neither of us mentioned being cold after that dive.

Cathy had seen us surface, saw sharks, and also wondered why Bob was splashing a wake back to the boat. As Bob explained later, his surface swim was the result of hitting the wrong button on his BCD (buoyancy control device) which inflated it and buoyed him. When he got the air dumped he went down.

Galapagos sharks are reported to be curious. Everything that happened was probably nothing more than them looking us over. But it was scary. Really scary.

We plan to dive again tomorrow. I promise I will not be comfortable around any sharks.

Daily Cuisine:

Pong is the head cook at the cafeteria. We’ve been eating most of our meals there. It’s simple and it’s good.

Fishing Report:

Fishing is still not allowed in this national monument. I think this is a lousy rule.

Arts and Entertainment:

We Cathy, Bob, and I mixed with some of the locals at their watering hole this evening. It was enjoyable to hear stories and learn more about them. All the people on the island are really nice.

Day 13 (Wednesday, June 25) by Mike

Sailing with Dummies (Hawaii to Alaska Edition)

Bob and I went to explore the underwater world outside the reef at Midway. It’s pretty much agreed that the chance of seeing sharks, especially tiger sharks is higher outside the reef than it is inside the reef. This made us more wary.

Sure enough, as soon as we descended into the water we saw a five-foot shark. But it was a Galapagos shark (reportedly safe for humans to swim around) and didn’t seem to even notice us. It just kept swimming very slowly in and out of our sight. We continued exploring the caverns and coral for sea life. I was once more amazed with the number of fish.

We stayed down for quite awhile on our first dive. We were at 30-50 feet through most of the dive and our air lasted a long time. By the time we got out of the water we were both freezing. The water temperature was about 75 degrees, which sounds reasonably comfortable. And it is … until you immerse yourself in it for an hour (I was pretty sure that my core temperature was down to about 75 degrees).

The coral at Midway is not as colorful as it is in many popular diving and snorkeling spots. I think that’s because of the lower water temperature. While there seem to be as many bright, colorful species of fishes around here as, say the Florida Keys, there certainly are more non-colorful fishes swimming around. I assume that is because they fit in with the less-colorful underwater structure.

After a hot shower and some thrashing around in the sun and moving the boat to another spot, we were warm enough to get in the water again. This time we both wore wetsuits.

Our second spot had more structure. There were a few Galapagos sharks around, around 4-5 feet in length. They kept their distance and were moving around slowly. I was beginning to feel a little more comfortable with the sharks. They didn’t pay any attention to us and we certainly gave them a wide berth.

This time we started out about 80-90 feet and explored slowly up the crevasses and structures until our depth was around 50 feet. Bob was in a recessed area taking pictures of something when a shark meandered by just a few feet behind him. I was probably 30 feet away when I noticed this. I tried to get Bob’s attention by banging on my tank. It didn’t work since I was trying to bang on the tank with a rubber-encased depth gauge. The shark swam on and Bob didn’t know the difference. I noticed three sharks in the general vicinity of us and it reinforced my increased comfort level with sharks.

Shortly thereafter we both looked at our remaining air (about 800 psi) and decided it was time to head back to the boat. We exchanged meaningless hand signals to each other and shrugged our shoulders a few times. Eventually we pointed at our air gauges and pointed upwards and headed to the surface. As we looked up we noticed a lot of sharks in the area. A lot of sharks. It was like they appeared from nowhere.

My newfound comfort with sharks immediately evaporated. As we swam to the surface there were sharks everywhere. They were swimming faster and generally circling around us. It seemed like they were swarming us.

We surfaced and located the boat about 75 yards away. I remember saying something profound, like “that’s a lot of sharks,” and Bob replied something profound, like “that’s a lot of sharks.” And we headed toward the boat posthaste. I went down to about 15-20 feet to (1) help with decompression since this was a deepish dive, and (2) make as little commotion in order to NOT attract the sharks’ attention.

Then I noticed something odd. Bob was on the surface ripping and tearing his way to the boat. This is normally a no-no around sharks. I figured he knew something I didn’t and kept swimming.

Scuba diving is an activity where personal movement is truly three-dimensional. A diver can swim in any direction. Up, down, north, south, east, west. Or any combination of these. Up ten degrees and east-northeasterly. Down 60 degrees and southwesterly.

The underwater diver can also look any direction while moving. For instance, while swimming northward it’s easy to see down by swimming face-down. Likewise, it’s easy to see west by swimming right-side-down. And by looking above your body you would see north, and toward your feet you would see south.

As I was swimming toward the boat as calmly as possible (not calm at all) I was continually and slowly rotating in 360 degree rolls as I kicked onward. I also looked above my head and towards my feet. In every direction, toward the surface, north, west, toward the bottom, etc. Everywhere I looked I saw 8, or 10, or maybe 12 sharks. I estimate that they were mostly 15-25 feet away, but there was often one or two that were more like 10 feet away.

At one point I looked toward my feet and noticed one swimming directly toward me, slightly faster than I was swimming. I sped up marginally (from almost-full-speed to full-speed) and it kept gaining ground at about the same rate. It was heading directly toward me, gradually getting closer. It would get to my feet first.

Flying airplanes we practice emergency procedures. These are basically what-ifs and a sequence of remedies would be best to follow. Sailing boats we practice man-overboard drills. As the shark approached me my mind was racing, but there was nothing in particular that I could think of to do. The only “emergency procedure” we had discussed was banging on an air tank if we saw a tiger shark and that wasn’t helpful to me at this point.

I did remember someone saying that sharks don’t like air bubbles. I had also heard that they are attracted to motion. I remember questioning in my mind whether either of these things were true. Maybe they were just hearsay. Then I wondered if it came closer, would it try to bite one of my flippers? Or maybe I could push it away if it kept coming so slow. And if one shark attacked would that create a “frenzy” like you see on tv?

When it got close to a shark-length away I stopped kicking and created a lot of air bubbles by exhaling a big breath and pressing the discharge button on my alternate regulator. The shark casually turned right 45 degrees and lazily swam on by as if I wasn’t even there.

Me? I’m resumed my flight to the boat at best speed. The sharks were still everywhere in all directions, but none particularly close to me. As I continued my looking-all-around-while-swimming, it dawned on me that I was unable to spot Bob on the surface. My “moment” with the shark surely hadn’t lasted more than 10-15 seconds. I ascended as I swam on. I wanted to get a fresh bead on the boat direction (and distance) and wondered where Bob was, too.

I popped up briefly and spotted the boat about 25 yards away. It seemed like a mile. On my way back down to 15 feet I noticed Bob was down at about 50 feet. That was strange. I swam on. He swam on.

Bob got to the ladder an instant before I did. That was the fastest I have ever seen anyone climb on board with scuba equipment. I was right behind him and out of the water as fast as possible. We then engaged in profound sailor talk. “I didn’t like that,” one of us said. “I didn’t either,” the other one replied. Neither of us mentioned being cold after that dive.

Cathy had seen us surface, saw sharks, and also wondered why Bob was splashing a wake back to the boat. As Bob explained later, his surface swim was the result of hitting the wrong button on his BCD (buoyancy control device) which inflated it and buoyed him. When he got the air dumped he went down.

Galapagos sharks are reported to be curious. Everything that happened was probably nothing more than them looking us over. But it was scary. Really scary.

We plan to dive again tomorrow. I promise I will not be comfortable around any sharks.

Daily Cuisine:

Pong is the head cook at the cafeteria. We’ve been eating most of our meals there. It’s simple and it’s good.

Fishing Report:

Fishing is still not allowed in this national monument. I think this is a lousy rule.

Arts and Entertainment:

Cathy, Bob, and I mixed with some of the locals at their watering hole this evening. It was enjoyable to hear stories and learn more about them. All the people on the island are really nice.

Photos!

Here are a few of Bob's photos from the boat ride, so far: http://xpda.com/nwhi

To whomever finds this message,

To whomever finds this message,

It's been seven days since I was press ganged by strange foreigners from the underbelly of Honolulu's waterfront. That first
unfortunate day remains a blur. Emerging groggy from the bowels of the ship I found myself far from land and with little chance of
escape. Days have passed and a routine has formed. My hours are filled catching and cleaning fish, cooking, scrubbing and steering
our vessel through treacherous reefs. Not one of them passes without the thought of escape. I find myself watching albatross glide
effortlessly over the cobalt sea and long to lift off and follow them. My captors seem confident in their vessel and sure of their
destination but below in the hold the provisions spoil at an alarming rate.

Our nor' westerly heading suggests the trading ports of Japan and if this holds true it is there I shall attempt my escape.

Please alert my family to this mis-adventure and assure them of my current good health and strong temperament.

Yours sincerely,
Joshua J Newman

The track to Midway!

Here is our Google Earth track from Oahu to Midway:

http://www.xpda.com/nwhi/midwaytrack.kmz

Day 12 (Tuesday, June 24) by Mike

Sailing with Dummies (Hawaii to Alaska Edition)

We went scuba-diving today. The wind was light and it was sunny. A perfect day for diving. Cathy does not scuba so she served as our on-the-boat safety person.

We drove around to our first spot and got our gear ready. As were just getting ready to jump in we saw a shark swimming around the in the water behind the boat. It was about four feet long and we think it was a Galapagos shark. These aren’t supposed to attack people. So we piddled around, delayed a few minutes, and then jumped in.

The visibility was really good. We decided to stay together so we could all come up and get out of the water if anyone saw a bad (tiger) shark. Nobody saw one and the dive was great. There are all kinds of fish here that I have never seen before.

Both of our dive spots today were inside the reef on the atoll. The first one had some deep narrow canyons (maybe 15 feet deep). It was really neat to go down in them. The four of us swam single file down several of the twisting paths. Some of them actually turned into tunnels for brief sections.

The second spot was a coral mound in the middle of a lot of sand. It was probably 150 feet in diameter. There were lots of these mounds scattered here and there. This one was rich with fish life. It was like being in an overcrowded aquarium. There were thousands of fish in that mall area. And I would guess more than 50, maybe as many as 100, different kinds of fish.

We plan to dive again tomorrow. And the next day.

Daily Cuisine:

Fried eggs sounded good this morning so I whipped up eggs for all takers as we motored out to our first dive spot. We dined on micro-waved nachos in between our dives.

Fishing Report:

Fishing is still not allowed in this national monument.

Arts and Entertainment:

I did some laundry this evening using a real washing machine and a real dryer. That sure beats a bucket, clothes pins, and lifelines.

Day 11 (Monday, June 23) by Mike

Sailing with Dummies (Hawaii to Alaska Edition)

This morning and afternoon we met with several different people from the island. All of them are extremely nice and have been very helpful. Before, in between, and after meetings we explored more of the island. There’s a really nice beach by the cafeteria. I used it today to do some deep thinking.

There are somewhere around 400,000 baby albatross chicks on the island right now. They have about a five-foot wingspan. These chicks are everywhere.

There are a few adult birds feeding them occasionally, but the chicks just sit and stand around, rarely moving. They don’t move for people, bikes, vehicles, or much of anything. Occasionally they stretch their wings.

Sometime between now and August about 300,000 of them will successfully fly away. That means about 100,000 of them will die in the next 5-6 weeks. That’s a few thousand dead birds each day. There are lots of dead birds on the ground (they smell bad). They basically die from starvation or thirst. The only food they get now is whatever their parents regurgitate to them.

Daily Cuisine:

We were regulars at the cafeteria today. It was a nice change.

Fishing Report:

Fishing is still not allowed in this national monument.

Arts and Entertainment:

Josh, Bob, and I played volleyball with the locals for a couple of hours. Melinda and Cathy hobnobbed with other spectators. The quality of volleyball was quite low. The enthusiasm level was quite high. We had to regularly pause the game when albatrosses stumbled onto the playing court (sand).

Day 10 (Sunday, June 22) by Mike

Sailing with Dummies (Hawaii to Alaska Edition)

We got there! We docked at Midway mid-afternoon. After a quick orientation meeting with Matt, the fish and wildlife guy, we biked and walked around the island.

Daily Cuisine:

They have a cafeteria/restaurant. We ate supper there. It specializes in Thai food (since the cooks are all from Thailand). Very nice.

Fishing Report:

Fishing is still not allowed in this national monument.

Arts and Entertainment:

The best entertainment was the shark trying to eat the bird.

Midway!

Monday, June 23, 2008

We are on Midway! Yesterday we called up on the radio and told them we were close. They said they'd come out in a boat and we could follow it in to the harbor. That was really nice, and it had the additional benefit of keeping Minnow wreckage off their reef. I was surprised that they'd heard tales of my excellent boat driving way out here.

I asked if anybody would be interested in scuba diving that afternoon. Four takers. (Cathy is not a diver).

While we were waiting on the boat to come out and guide us in, I noticed an albatross in the water. Then I noticed it disappear. We got closer, and I thought I saw a couple of dolphins surface. But he two dorsal fins from the dolphins turned out to be a dorsal and a tail fin of a huge tiger shark. It may have been normal size for a tiger shark, but it looked huge to me.

The albatross in the water was a fledgling that apparently had been flying beyond his ability. This is dangerous for albatross as well as humans. The tiger shark made several passes, trying for an albatross lunch. The bird was too tired or too dumb to get away from the shark, but the shark never could get a good bite on the bird. Eventually, the bird figured out that this might not be a good situation, and flew a few hundred feet away to elude the shark.

Welcome to Midway! After that, nobody wanted to dive.

We docked at the tugboat pier next to an old torpedo boat. It is a very sturdy pier, so we did not damage the dock as is our normal practice. I think it was built in World War II, or possibly 1859.

There are a half a million albatross fledglings here. It's hard to bike or even walk down the road there are so many. The fledglings have about a 5-foot wingspan. (Consider that in the shark photo.) There are also lots of other birds -- white terns, tropicbirds, parakeets, and even a few ducks. There are giant sea turtles on the beach, laying around with the monk seals.

Ed Bachman (Mom's brother) was here in World War II. Mom said he talked about all the goony birds -- they're still here.

We biked and hiked around the island yesterday. We ate at the restaurant (good food!), bowled, and tried to run the dinghy motor. People are really friendly. Birds, too. Mike flipped the dinghy a couple years ago in the Virgin Islands, and the motor still has sand in it.

Day 9 (Saturday, June 21) by Mike

Sailing with Dummies (Hawaii to Alaska Edition)

This morning we passed within about a mile of Lisianski Island about 6:30a (Hawaii time). In this part of the Pacific the sun comes up around 7:15a. So it was in morning twilight that we saw the 380-acre, flat, scrubby, shrubby island. No trees. Like the other islands in this area, it was swarming with sea birds. The birds eat seafood so they don’t compete for food in the islands, only for space (nesting space mainly, I think).

Lisianski Island was named after Mr. Lisianski.

Lisianski was a Russian ship captain that was taking furs from Sitka, Alaska to Russia when his ship surprisingly ran aground the reef of this uncharted island. They got away by dumping heavy stuff from the boat and then a storm came through and pushed them onto the reef again. This time they dumped even more stuff and got away again. It was much more perilous than my description makes it sound.

He wrote a book about his voyages around the world in the early 1803-1807. I have to say that he had a very realistic and positive attitude about things. That differs from some of the European captain’s accounts, which seem to be ominous and maybe too dramatic for my taste.

Daily Cuisine:

Before today’s island passing I was suffering from “grease deprivation.” This condition had been worsening day-by-day. Bacon and fried eggs not only hit the spot, but also temporarily cured my ailment. Melinda made chocolate cake and some vanilla pudding. Mmmm.

Fishing Report:

Fishing is still not allowed in this national monument.

Arts and Entertainment:

This morning I started to watch five or six movies from our stocks, each one new to me. None of them lasted more than a few minutes before I had to pull the plug. There might be a reason I had never heard of them. Eventually I got to one I had seen before: Mr. and Mrs. Smith. I liked it again while I cooked and ate my grease-laden breakfast.

Day 8 (Friday, June 20) by Mike

Sailing with Dummies (Hawaii to Alaska Edition)

We went by Laysan Island today. There’s not much to see but the island has an interesting history. It’s about two miles long and a mile wide covering more than 1000 acres. It has a pond in the middle of it that is almost 1 mile long. The pond is extra salty, even more than the seawater surrounding the island. We saw somewhere around one jillion birds flying around the island. They looked like swarms of gnats in the distance.

What makes the history interesting is the extreme harvesting of birds’ feathers, guano, and albatross eggs that took place in the late 1800s and early 1900s. There were hundreds of thousands of birds killed for their feathers alone during this period (used primarily for fashion in Japan). Some of the feather, guano, and egg harvesters brought rabbits and guinea pigs to the island for food. The rabbits multiplied and killed off most of the vegetation on the island (leaving the tobacco plants). What was a lush island became bare.

In 1909 Teddy Roosevelt made the island a wildlife preserve, which was a good thing. He even arrested some Japanese poachers and threw them in jail.

Today when we passed near the island (about a mile away) someone called on the radio and wanted to know where we were coming from, where we were going, and did we have permission to be around the island. That’s a little bit overdone, in my opinion. I mean, come on, we’re a sailboat out in the middle of the Pacific. Maybe a “hi, how’s your trip going” would have been more appealing. I’m not sure what kind of trouble we might have caused from that distance. We installed special VMS tracking for this trip (expensive and required to visit Midway) so they can see exactly where we are at all times. But I guess there are Barney Fife’s everywhere making this world a better place. Somehow I don’t think that’s what Teddy had in mind in 1909.

Daily Cuisine:

The most exciting culinary item today was a baked potato.

Fishing Report:

Fishing is still not allowed in this national monument.

Arts and Entertainment:

Bob got some really old books about this area. Some are so old that the paper stinks. If fact, “The Last Cruise of the Saginaw” was so smelly that I tried to keep it downwind while I read it. This book was published in a first edition of 150 copies by Houghton Mifflin Company.

These books give a refreshing point of view, having been written in the early 1900s and referring to logs and writings from the 1800s. Among the stories are accounts of shipwrecks along the islands we are passing, and people surviving for months on the islands. What makes them particularly interesting to us now is their comments on the places we have been and are going.

Day 7 (Thursday, June 19) by Mike

Sailing with Dummies (Hawaii to Alaska Edition)

Not much interesting to report today. The Minnow continued toward Midway Island. No land in sight. No overboard drills. Just book-reading and harmony with nature (I cleaned a bathroom).

Daily Cuisine:

Bananas don’t last long on a boat with the temperatures in the 70s. This morning I used our last three bananas on a final banana bread. We are also out of peaches and bell peppers, but we have lots of apples and potatoes.

Fishing Report:

Fishing is still not allowed in this national monument.

Arts and Entertainment:

This morning’s movie was lousy. In fact, I forgot the name of it.

June 20, by Bob

6/20/2008 5:34 am central time.

Hawaii is 10 hours behind Oklahoma time, and Midway is 11. I'm not sure what time zone Maro Reef is in. We're between Maro Reef and
Laysan Island, blown at amazing speeds by hurricane force wind of 7 mph. We're doing between 3 and 4 knots. We expect to reach
Midway sometime early in the year 2010. Water temperature is 78F, and air temperature is about the same. There is ocean under the
boat and sky above it, a nice combination and much more desirable than the inverse.

There have been birds flying around the boat, somtimes sleeping on the boat. I can hear them squawking outside now, even though
we're quite a few miles from the nearest land.

Book Reviews:

I read "The Last Cruise of the Saginaw" about a shipwreck on Ocean Island, aka Kure Atoll. Apparently albatross are pretty tough and
stringy, and the Hawaiian monk seals aren't much better. I guess I'll stick to Chips Ahoy. Rating: required reading for this trip.

"A Voyage Round the World, in the Years 1803-1806" is about a sailor who ended up circling the world on various ships. He lost both
his feet to frostbite after a shipwreck in Alaska. He was not even an officer, but he ended up living with the Queen of Hawaii for a
while. It's a good story with historical perspective. Rating: required reading for this trip.

I am now reading "John Cameron's Odyssey," about a sailor of the latter 1800's. It's really interesting. Things were really
different around here then. Rating: recommended reading.

I read Plague Ship, a Clive Cussler book by someone else. Rating: entertaining.

We have a couple of bicycles on the boat now, and a stationary bike trainer. Mike, Josh and I have been using it. Melinda and Cathy
are slackers. We also have a 20-lb dumbbell, but we can't figure out what it's for.

It is sometime after midnight now, and I'm the only one awake on the boat. I think it is time for a baritone serenade.

The last baritone on the boat corroded beyond repair, so I bought a new old one on eBay just before we left. It's a good thing we
saved the mouthpiece from the old baritone, because the new one came without it. I think everybody is always thrilled to hear me
play.

The wind has been pretty weak since we left Oahu. But the ride is smooth and it's really enjoyable. It's nice to walk around outside
without getting blasted by salt spray.

We have not seen another boat since Lehua Crater off Niihau. Are there supposed to be ice bergs and polar bears near Midway?

June 19, Cathy

By Cathy

Important points:
· The Coleman grill is exceptionally handy to have on board.
· That nice lemon cleaning solution spiffs up the toilets quite fine but always makes me sneeze.
· All the creaking and thumping (the boat, not the people - at least today) has me wondering what the larger sailing ships must
sound like.
· Laundry in a bucket is simple and essential.
· Bananas, peaches and oranges are gone, so now apples and pineapple rule!
· The Celtics made Mike very happy.
· Joshua has come to realize that just to win in Uno is not enough - you must make your opponents suffer.
· Bob had an interview today.
· Melinda made delicious blueberry scones.
· I see an endless, beautiful deep blue sea.

June 16, by Cathy

June 16
By Cathy

We viewed Necker Island today from a distance and will pass Pinnacle Rock at French Frigate Shoals in the night. We are not able
stop to view anything until Midway Island due to Monument rules. So far playful dolphins, a curious Hawaiian Monk Seal, a variety of
terns, brown boobies, brown and black noddies, and today, finally a Laysan Albatross have entertained us.

I've gotten a nice tan already and sleep is always easy with the ocean movement. The shorter haircut beforehand was a very good
idea. It is good to be around Melinda and Josh again, although Josh grilled me with questions during a video interview! Mike is
baking banana bread daily since bananas are the first to over ripen. Only three Uno players are on board with Queen Melinda in first
place, I'm a close second and poor Josh comes in as the loser (but he'll get better).
We are getting better at the Man Overboard drills, thankfully. These will be become more important as the rest of the crew heads
toward the Aleutians. Photography and pleasure reading of the history of exploration of these islands and atolls was today's work.
Tomorrow - maybe bird watching, more reading, ...

Day 6 (Wednesday, June 18) by Mike

Sailing with Dummies (Hawaii to Alaska Edition)

Today we had a KOB (kite everboard) drill. Josh started to fly a kite, it hit the water, broke the string, and we retrieved it. Here is a list of things we do in a MOB (or KOB) drill:

1. Shout “Man Overboard” or something similar (“Bob is stupid and fell in again!”). Some crew member is designated to spot the imbecile, point at him, and never take his eyes off the half-wit.

2. Throw out floating things such as life rings, a lighted safety raft, cushions, etc. (when we practice we just fake throwing extra stuff in the water – in a real situation we would throw it all in so the dummy (i.e. Bob) could grab onto something. Also, the additional flotsam would be easier to spot in rough waves.

3. Turn the boat directly into the wind (this stops the boat quickly).

4. Press the MOB button on the GPS (this marks the spot on our moving map with and X which is where we look for the moron (for example, Bob).

5. Start the motors and drive toward the X.

6. Lower sails to make the boat more controllable.

7. Throw out the “Lifesling” (a floating horseshoe tied to the boat with a long rope).

8. Drive circles around the retard until the idiot grabs the Lifesling (just like bringing a rope to a water skier).

We have detailed MOB procedures posted around the boat.

One benefit to practicing is seeing how difficult it is to keep tabs on a cushion floating in the water. That should scare any sane person into not taking any chances of falling in.

Daily Cuisine:

Melinda made blueberry scones. I had mine buttered for tea.

Fishing Report:

Fishing is not allowed in this national monument.

Arts and Entertainment:

This morning I watched a movie called “Two if by Sea.” I liked it; it was funny.

Day 5 (Tuesday, June 17) by Mike

Sailing with Dummies (Hawaii to Alaska Edition)

It was cloudy and rainy as we continued heading toward Midway. We got a view of Necker Island as we passed about four miles north of it on our way westward. There were a lot of birds but otherwise it was not very interesting.

Well after dark we passed about nine miles north of French Frigate Shoals. This is a bunch of small islands in shallow water and probably would not have been worth looking at during the day. But there is a lot of interesting history here. Such as (1) WWII Japanese float planes landed here and were refueled by submarines and (2) WWII US forces blew up a bunch of coral and then dredged it to build an aircraft-carrier-sized island.

How do I know this? Bob made “Travel Guides” for our trip. Part one is 350+ pages of information on all the islands and stuff from Hawaii to Midway. It has natural history, unnatural (human) history, wildlife, and other interesting stuff on the area. Every day we all read about the next island areas coming up. This is the kind of stuff that would normally be dry and boring to read – unless you are there. Well, we’re here. It’s interesting.

Part Two of his guide is about the Aleutian Islands and Alaska. There is also a wildlife guide. Altogether I’d guess there are more than 1000 pages of information tailor-made for our journey. Pretty handy.

We had another MOB (man over board) practice today. It was windy and rainy during this one. But we won anyway and recovered the seat cushion again!

Daily Cuisine:

Another banana bread baked (only a few bananas left!). Not much else of note.

Fishing Report:

Fishing is not allowed in this national monument.

Arts and Entertainment:

The most entertaining part of the day for me started with a text message to our satphone. It read “Celtics 9, Lakers 9, with 9 minutes left in first quarter…”

Patty continued to send updated scores throughout the game. Nineteen messages later the Celtics had won the NBA championship.

My favorite? “Celtics 116, Lakers 81, 4^th quarter, 4 minutes.” Yay Celtics.

Day 4 (Monday, June 16) by Mike

Sailing with Dummies (Hawaii to Alaska Edition)

Today we began our first all-day-sailing day. The wind is still light but at least it’s going in a favorable direction.

At some point last night or this morning, we entered a national monument or something. It’s either:

Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument,

Midway National Memorial, or

Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument

Whichever it is, it comes with some special rules. Bob read them and that means I don’t have to. The most severe restriction is the no-fishing rule. That’s harsh. We’ll be under these rules until we get out past Midway.

The highlight of today was sailing by the island called Nihoa. It’s located about 120 miles west of the main “Hawaiian Islands.” It’s little (173 acres) and tall (895 feet). That means the sides are really steep. Most of one side is sheer cliffs. There are relics on the island that indicate that up to 175 people lived on Nihoa between the years 1000 and 1700. That makes me wonder if they got kicked off the main Hawaiian Isles.

It was cloudy with occasional rain most of the day. With temperatures in the mid-70s it was very pleasant.

For exercise we have a bicycle and a device that holds the back wheel still while it’s ridden. We also have a single barbell, but it’s buried beneath lots of Tostidos chips. There’s a jump rope hidden beneath the chips, too. But the bicycle is out and being used. With mostly calm seas it’s easy to ride.

Daily Cuisine:

Our bananas seem to have all gotten ripe at the same time. So I started the morning off making banana bread. Melinda made some gourmet guacamole. This resulted in us being one bag of chips closer to the barbell and jump rope.

Fishing Report:

No fishing allowed here.

Arts and Entertainment:

Melinda, Josh, and Cathy viewed the movie “The Life Aquatic” and said it was good. Bob attempted a selection of national anthems on the baritone. It was not so good.

Go Celtics!

Hawaii-Midway-Attu, Day 5, June 16, 2008

Hawaii-Midway-Attu, Day 5, June 16, 2008
by Bob

Today we passed by Nihoa Island. It is pretty odd looking. It's less than a mile long, with tall, steep cliffs on the north side
where we sailed by. The cliffs are several hundred feet tall, the highest at 910 feet. There are lots of sea birds flying around the
island and around the area for miles.

Yesterday we stored away the scuba gear and today we broke out a bicycle and stand for stationary biking.

Today we had a woman overboard drill -- we took down the sail and everything. We need a few more practice runs before we get into
the cold water around Alaska. Hopefully we'll all stay clipped in outside and won't have to worry about retrieving people.

We have harnesses we use in rough conditions and at night to keep us attached to the boat. We also have man overboard beacons we can
carry so when we fall overboard, an alarm goes off and the place we fell in is marked on the GPS. That is handy if only one person
is awake.

It's midnight, June 16. We are 810 miles from Midway and 79 miles from Necker Island. Today I read about the Saganaw, a
steam-powered sailing ship that wrecked on Kure Atoll (Ocean Island) in about 1869. Five people of the 93 stranded took a small boat
from Kure to Kauai, over 1000 miles, for help. One of the five survived, and all the others were rescued after a few months on the
small island. We hope to do something similar.

Hawaii-Midway-Attu, Day 4, June 15, 2008

Hawaii-Midway-Attu, Day 4, June 15, 2008
by Bob

We sailed to Kaula Rock today. We motored around the island a time or two. It was really impressive. It's about 550 feet tall, with
steep cliffs on all sides. We hoped to dive there, but chickened out because the swells from the north and south scared us when they
smashed into the rocks. Landing there was out of the question, even if it was allowed. The island is a naval target island, and a
permit is required to land there. It's got some leftover ammunition, some supposedly live and some inert. We could see some of it.

After Kaula, we looked for 5 fathom pinnacle. It is a a pinnacle in an area over 200 feet. It comes up to within 30 feet of the
surface. The chart shows a shallow area of about 1000 yards by 500 yards. But the pinnacle is maybe one tenth that size. We finally
found it by driving around and looking in the water.

We dropped the anchor at 35 feet. It dragged a bit, and then set pretty solid. Mike and I dived. We noticed that the anchor had
slipped off the pinnacle and was wedged in a crack at 80 feet. It came our alright when we were done, though. Next time you're
there, you can find the pinnacle at 21°41.22'N 160°36.20'W.

I thought the place was incredible. The water was really clear -- more than 100 feet visibility. the rock structure came up from a
200+ foot floor to 30 feet from the surface. It had huge cracks and lots of fish I had never seen before. There was a current of
maybe a knot, fairly stiff for diving.

After the dive, Melinda and Josh went kayaking. The swells were fairly high for that, but it was fun for them to be out kayaking
miles away from shore. A Hawaiian monk seal came up and swam with them for a bit. They're pretty rare, with a current population of
about 1200. This was the last time we'll be allowed out of the boat before Midway Island, about a week away.

In fact, we're not even allowed to stop the boat except in an emergency. This afternoon we entered the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
Marine National Monument, or Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument as it's now named, There are lots of dos and don'ts for the
Monument area. Believe it or not, we're following the rules!

Hawaii-Midway-Attu, Day 3, Jun 14, 2008

Hawaii-Midway-Attu, Day 3, Jun 14, 2008
by Bob

This morning I got up early to head to Lehua Crater. Mike was getting ready to kayak to shore. He was asleep when we had anchored,
and thought we were at the crater already. We were actually at the private island of Niihau where they frown on visitors.

We motored over to the island, anchored, and dived. It's a really cool place. The crater is almost 1/2 submerged, a little over a
half mile in diameter, and 704 feet high.

There were lots of birds. In fact, it's a bird sanctuary. Nobody lives there, but there were some people climbing around. They
looked like bird watchers or bird researchers. We read that we were not supposed to visit the island, but it would have been fun to
climb to the top, though.

From there we headed south along the west coast of Niihau. We decided to shoot skeet, since we didn't have a good place to store
them. We brought a shotgun for hiking amongst the bears and harvesting skeet. We massacred a quite few clay pigeons.

We were headed for Kaula Rock, a small island southwest of Niiihau. We didn't know whether we could anchor there, and it was getting
dark, so we anchored off Niihau again, this time on the southwest coast. We kayaked around, but couldn't find a safe place to land.

Hawaii-Midway-Attu, Day 2, June 13, 2008

Hawaii-Midway-Attu, Day 2, June 13, 2008
by Bob

We got to sail! We rounded the north end of Kauai, and followed the west shore toward Lehua Crater north of Niihau. We planned to
dive there, but it was dark when we arrived. So we anchored off Niihau (Keawanui Bay).

Hawaii-Midway-Attu, Day 1, June 12, 2008

Hawaii-Midway-Attu, Day 1, June 12, 2008
by Bob

We left Oahu at 11:45 pm Thursday, an hour and a half ago and 15 minutes before Friday the 13th.

We're about 4 miles off shore, motoring on one engine. The wind is less than two knots. The ocean is glassy most of the time. The
moon is out. All in all, it's very nice outside.

Josh came in today around noon, Cathy at 2:45, and Melinda at about 9:44 this evening.

Our plan is to sail to Midway Island, around 1100 miles northwest of Oahu, stay there for a few days before heading on to Attu
Island. Attu is the last (or first, if you're in Siberia) island in the Aleutian chain, the "tail" of Alaska. That's another 1500
miles or so.

From Attu, we plan to follow the Aleutians and the Alaska Peninsula, and southern coast of Alaska down to Canada and Washington.
That's a few more miles.

We don't have enough diesel to motor the entire distance, so before too long we'll either find some wind or float for a few days
until the wind finds us. The forecast looks like a moderately slow sail to Midway, with the wind coming up to 15 knots early next
week.

This morning Mike and I got up before the sun. We managed to drive the boat to the fuel dock without hitting anything big, not even
other boats. After filling up with diesel, we put some reserve fuel in some cans. I managed to splash a bit over the deck and
myself.

So, being the neatnick I am, I cleaned it up. I used some bath towels and some really strong smelling alcohol-based household
cleaner from France. I threw the towels into a trash bag along with some dirty clothes and new underwear from Walmart. I threw them
into a washer in the laundry.

In about 38 minutes, I returned to toss the clothes into the dryer. But when I opened the washer door, it smelled like a lemon
diesel factory. So I started up another wash cycle. Later, Mike went to the laundry to pick the clothes up. He eventually found them
in the washer instead of the dryer. He said the whole laundry smelled like lemon diesel by then.

A lady in the laundry gave Mike a tongue-lashing for putting diesel clothes in the washing machine. Although Mike didn't deserve
this specific lecture, it should count for one of the many things has done that he deserved a lecture for.

Midway-Midway-Attu, Day 0

Midway-Midway-Attu, Day 0
by Bob

The voyage from Hawaii to Midway to the Aleutians and beyond came about as a result of an idea a couple of years ago. We were
thinking about entering a sailboat race. The boat was in Key West at the time.

We found a race from St. Petersburg to Isla Mujeres, Mexico. We entered the race. Naturally, we were thrown out of the race. Another
boat broke a rudder and we towed them to Mexico, using our engine.

After our excellent performance in this boat race, we decided to enter another. This one was from Los Angeles to Hawaii. We sailed
the boat through the Panama Canal around to Los Angeles, and completed the Transpac race last summer without being disqualified!

We sailed around Hawaii for a year or so, and looked at our options. North, South, East, or West. We thought it would be pretty
interesting to see Midway Island. I had no idea what it was like, or what was involved. That was part of the attraction, I suppose.

Last December, I learned that in order for us to visit Midway Island this summer, we had to submit a multipage application for a
permit before the end of January. So I did. The application was posted online for public comment. I don't know whether anybody
commented.

March, April, and May rolled around. We still did not have our permit to visit Midway. As required, we installed an expensive
satellite tracker on our boat so the government can make sure we don't anywhere we're not supposed to. They said our permit was
orally approved, but we still had not received it.

We planned to leave on June 12. On June 9, we had our required inspections for alien species on the hull and equipment, and for rats
and mice. Still no permit.

Finally, on June 10, we got our permit! Mike showed up for grocery shopping. We acquired enough food and toilet paper for 5 people
to circle the earth 2.7 times. Melinda, Josh, and Cathy come on Thursday the 12th.

Sailing with Dummies (Hawaii to Alaska Edition)
Day 3 (Sunday, June 15)
by Mike
This morning we weighed anchor about 5:00a and took off by sail toward Kaula
isle. In light wind we moved along at 5-6 knots and covered the 18 miles in
about 3.5 hours. As we neared the island the wind got fresh with us.
It was too windy and wavy to consider anchoring, much less scuba diving.
However, viewing the island was magnificent. Birds were everywhere, flying
above and around the 500 ft cliffs, roosting on the cliffs and ledges, and
flying around the boat. We made 1.75 slow laps around the island before
moving on.

Our next stop was only 45 minutes away. Out in the middle of the water is a
place called "five fathom pinnacle." It's where there's almost an island. In
fact, it probably was one but sunk over the years. Now its peak is five
fathoms (30 feet) below the surface.

We got to spot on the map where the pinnacle is shown and the depth read
over 200 feet. That's fairly shallow, considering the depths in the
surrounding waters are thousands of feet. But it's much too deep to anchor
and dive. So we drove the boat around the area looking for a shallower spot.
While we were doing this Bob got on top and spotted a shallow looking area
nearby. We went there and sure enough the depth climbed gradually to 35
feet.

We quickly dropped 150 feet of anchor chain hoping the anchor would snag
something. It did!

The swell was big. Bob and I put on our scuba gear and planned our dive. The
current looked weak, but for safety we decided to swim to the front of the
boat and follow the anchor chain down to the bottom.

Boy were we surprised. The current was moving almost as fast as we could
swim. That meant an all out sprint to get from the 10 feet behind the boat
to 15 feet in front of the boat to grab the chain. The boat being 52 feet
long made for a 77 foot swim. It … seemed … like … it … took … forever … to
… get … to … the … back … of … the … boat. Whew! Only 67 feet left to go.
When we finally got to the chain, it was almost dangerous to hold onto since
it was surging up and down with the motion of the boat. I held on
intermittently and pulled myself along. Bob kept swimming. We eventually
made it to the anchor 90 feet down and about 150 feet in front of the boat.
By then my air was down to2100 pounds (from 3000). And I was still breathing
hard.

The visibility was great. And there were lots of fish. Colorful ones. We
swam around for a few minutes. The pinnacle was off to the right when
looking into the current. We swam upwards toward the pinnacle a bit and I
decided to call it quits, my air at 1400 by then. Bob followed me up and we
ended the short dive. For a short, difficult, dive, it was a good one. A
memorable one.

After our dive Josh and Melinda kayaked around the boat. It's fun to kayak
in big waves. It got funner for them when a monk seal started swimming along
with them. According to everyone else on the boat (yes, I was ignorant of
the fact the monk seal is really rare – maybe 2000 total left). So this was
a big deal.

This was our last stop before Midway Island. Depending on the wind speed,
and direction, we should get there in 5-9 days. Winds are pretty light
around here now since a trough (I don't know what that is, but the computer
voice on the weather radio said so) was messing up the normal trade winds.
We took off sailing and over the next several hours we began to have more
space on the boat as wet clothes, scuba stuff, etc. was dried and stowed. By
evening it was very pleasant weather, a decent breeze, a nice sunset, and
plenty of places to sit.

Daily Cuisine:
The highlight of today's eating was Josh's chocolate/banana cake. Also
worthy of note, Bob whipped up some turkey sandwiches around midday.

Fishing Report:
No bites. But we did fish today. Since there's no fishing allowed in the
national park that surrounds Midway, and we will be entering that tomorrow,
the fishing report will likely be mundane for the next couple of weeks.

Arts and Entertainment:
Today I decided to grab the baritone and take a crack at the trumpet solos
in Penny Lane. I admit that I struggled at first. But by the time Bob got it
playing on the stereo I had it pegged. I played along with it and I think I
nailed i. Bob said something about it but I couldn't quite hear him. I think
it was a compliment.

Day three and communication lines are still wide open on the Minnow. In
addition to Bob commenting on my baritone playing, Josh asked me where to
find the baker's chocolate.