Because of all the many teasing from hazes and squalls, I have been busy all day adjusting the sails. Unlike yesterday, the sky is clear again today and the light winds between squalls blow Guppy to a speed of five knots [9 kilometres or 6 land miles an hour]. For other things, I try to catch as much sleep as possible because once I sail straight through all the reefs and atolls I will have to check on Guppy every 20 minutes so she does not head directly into a reef! The atolls and reefs are really so shallow that sometimes even the radar system will not detect them. I have now sailed into a new time zone and the difference with the Netherlands is now exactly 12 hours [GMT/UTC -10]. I was lost in the reading of a book when I was startled by something which at first appeared to be a small whale but then it became clear that it was a mega-big dolphin! The dolphin swam side by side with Guppy for a few minutes and then suddenly left to continue on its voyage. What a pity Guppy and the dolphin did not go along together for longer.. I would rather have liked to have time enough to study this animal some more – I had never seen such a huge dolphin before.

laura