After completing a lot of work getting Aiki ready, we are now ready to head back out cruising to the South Pacific.

We headed out the gate

With our good friend Derek Peterson

Then got stuck in Monterey California for a month due to an unusual set of weather patterns in the Pacific. Heading out into a full gale with 20+ foot seas didn’t seem prudent, so we stuck around Monterey waiting for a weather window.

Unfortunately this weather window didn’t arrive in time for Derek to make the crossing with us. With sad hearts he headed back to work and his wife, while we attempted to console ourselves through multiple trips to the Aquarium, which is a truly magic place.

We were lucky enough to also get the chance to see the inside of Ed Ricketts lab, and to catch an opportunity to go to the Hobkins Biological Laboratory open house, where we agreed to help a couple of the researchers with some of their ongoing projects. While we were crossing or on some of the islands in the South Pacific. (More on that later!)

It looks like we have a weather window coming up on Tuesday May 9th to head all the way from here to the Marquesas, the first week or so is probably going to be cold, but should be fun. With us is Bruce Bates, and wonderful addition to the crew, with a lot of cruising and some passage experience to help make watch standing a lot easier than with just two of us.
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Stay tuned for more in depth articles, and some videos!
Guy and Melissa
Monterey Bay California