Tuesday, November 22, 2005 10:30 a.m.

Welcome III reporting from 22 05.009 N 64 59.749 W. 16.7 nautical miles west off of our rhumbline. Compass heading right now is 250, and we are moving at about 6 knots, but in the wrong direction. Our bearing to Tortola is 191 . Our new measure of progress is velocity made good, rather than distance and speed. We are 1,368 miles from Boston. 633 miles from Bermuda. 222.3 miles to go to Tortola. The wind turned southwest overnight. We went from a single reefed main with staysail, to a full main, staysail and geneo overnight. We are strategizing our tacks with weather charts indicating that the wind will turn easterly within 24 hours. Seas are now a moderate 3-5 feet, and wind is approximately 10-15. Water temp is 81.8. Air temp is 83.6. It feels hot and humid. Barometric pressure is 1010.8. A swim might be on the schedule for today. Given the heat, we have adjusted our safety standards while in the cockpit during the day. Life jackets are optional. Hypothermia at this sea temperature sets in over several days, not minutes. One might prefer to be shark bait rather than swim for days.

Yesterday was the sribe's 49th birthday. The celebration began with a card and a present in the morning. The present was a book of photographs of stray dogs of the Greek Islands. Anyone who knows the scribe knows that dogs take up as much brain disk space as sailing. It was a good present. A special dinner of Indian food ala Trader Joe's was prepared, and the cork on a good bottle of champagne was popped. Ann had made a wonderful orange pound cake which was presented with eight candles. The wind god made a wish and blew them out. We never established why eight, but there is suspiscion it is because that is how many candles were left in the birthday candle carton. Michael presented Donna with a beautiful hand painted tee shirt of a sailboat, with Welcome III, The Great Adventure, November 2005 written underneath. It was painted by a physician at his health center. Also in the bag was a box of Joseph Schmidt's chocolates. One third remain as this is being written. Ann gave Donna the watch off of her wrist. A very generous present given it leaves her without a watch. Neptune had stolen Donna's Timex as she struggled to keep a jerry can of diesel fuel on board during the first leg of the voyage.

Kate, Liza, Rachel and George were scheduled to arrive by plane in Tortola last night. They are renting a house in the West End. We hope they are entertaining themselves, and not buying too much in the way of food. Despite the increase in consumption on board, we have ample supplies remaining. We switched to our second (and last) 40 gallon water tank yesterday. Both tanks were full in Bermuda. The water in the tanks is used for cooking, washing dishes and limited bathing. Drinking water is taken from separate jugs.

Boats make a lot of noise underway. Halyards bang against the mast. Waves smash into the hull. Dishes rattle, water in tanks sloshes, the gimbled stove creaks. But Michael commented that the loudest noise is the sound of laughter.

We anticipate Landfall Tortola Thursday moring, just in time for the Thanksgiving tofurkey. A list of onshore preparations is being compiled in order to leave the boat there for the winter. As lovely as this leg has been, we will be happy to see our spouses and to be on land once again, plotting the return voyage North in the Spring.