LAAAAAAAAAAND HOOOOOOOOOOOO Wahooooo!

Hello Everyone...

I am so excited to be able to say that.... I woke up this morning at 9:12am to Chris yelling at the top of his lungs, "LAAAAAANNNNNNDDD HHHHHOOOOOOO" and all the kids... "I see it, I see it, I see it!" Everyone is so excited. We are 13.9 miles from land and are starting to be able to decipher the other Islands around Hiva Oa... Music is blaring, kids are singing, and we are all on deck with a watchful eye with anticipation of what lies ahead. Giddy Up Family Circus... we are flying going, 8-9+ knots and letting the reins run free! Totally Barn Sour! HEATHER

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Hot Damn- this electronic charting stuff really works!!! We have multiple redundant GPSs on board- but its still reassuring to actually see Land!

I had planned on bringing the kids up to discover Land first, but I was jiggling with the fishing pole, and turned around, and couldnt believe my eyes. It distinctly wasnt a low cloud, and it definitely had a shape..... I couldnt help myself and screamed at the top of my lungs!! I could see how sailors who had been at sea for much longer, for multiple months, who were using dead reckoning and celestial navigation to find their way (and were eating rats, walking the plank and getting scurvy)- how they could feel so completely out of their mind!

The mood on the boat has been picking up over the last twenty four hours, and is pretty darn positive right now! We still probably have 5 hours till we get to anchor, but the journey seems different now that we are in sight of land!

We'll post more once we're anchored in the bay at Atuona, on Hiva Oa-but for now, LAAAAAANNNNNDDDD HOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! CHRIS

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