anchored at Fanning Island in 11-feet

N03 51 W159 21
local 2120 Wednesday (although Tuesday for us)

We had a great sail yesterday. The wind backed to SSE and we beam reached along for hours, regularly hitting 11-knots. Finally last night we had to roll up the jib and double-reef the main to slow down to arrive at Fanning Island at first light. It was a beautiful sunrise, with coffee in hand, over the 9-mile long atoll. The pass was pretty straightforward, with small waves breaking on either side, that Dan and I may go check out with our boards tomorrow.

We dropped the hook, Colin in the water to directing us to a nice sandy patch, next to a wreck, and have cleared into the country of Kiribati. Unbeknownst to us today is actually tomorrow since we crossed the international dateline, even though we are at longitude W159. The dateline jogs east here at Fanning so that Kiribati is all on the same day.

After official paperwork, Liz, Colin and MJ did some on-shore exploring and enjoyed walking on land as well as even climbing a tree. The sun is crazy intense here so managing our sun exposure kept us busy today and the sunscreen flowing. The trades are blowing over the lagoon, though, so the evening has turned a lovely temperature conducive to the full night's sleep that we are thrilled to get tonight. With our still abundant tuna we made poisson cru for an appetizer and then MJ grilled us up some
amazing tuna steaks with mashed potatoes for dinner. Life at anchor is fabulous. Everyone is hanging out chatting in the cockpit right now, under the waxing moon in this ultra-calm lagoon, and pretty soon we will all dive into some much-needed sleep.

We averaged 143nm/day at 6-knots on the 1250nm passage from American Samoa, which we are happy with considering that it was upwind. Our plan is to stay here for a few days resting and checking out this cool island in the middle of the ocean before we take off for Hawaii.


Approaching Fanning Island at sunrise.



Happily anchored.