NZ to Minerva Reefs - Day 5

We gained a day today. We crossed the International Date Line so we....uhhh....sailed into yesterday I guess? We'll have two Wednesdays this week? Wait a minute, the dateline doesn't always follow the 180 degree meridian. Come to think of it, we had a full moon last night and I was at the helm for long stretches staring at the spectacle. I never saw that thick black date line. Still figuring it out the dateline thing. 

Each day when I'm writing a post Michelle passes me a thumb drive with several "images of the day". I can only attach one photo at a time and they take forever to upload over the satphone - preventing me from checking weather and emails. Everyday it is difficult to pick the best shot. She really has her photographic game on. Yesterday there were 3 amazing shots. I'm sure she'll do a best-of-voyage post when we get somewhere with broadband. Today's image was shot with her on the side deck looking straight up. I was inboard holding on to her sailing harness since she was using both hands on the camera. 

The sailing harness is a auto-inflating life jacket. Ours have a locator beacon and strobe light. If someone goes overboard the beacon triggers an alarm on the boat. The beacon position appears on our electronic charts. We have strict rules about when we must wear the harness. 

The winds have tapered off so we won't make it to Minerva by sundown today. We'll find a safe location to park the boat overnight and enter the reef in the morning with favorable light. We "park" the boat using an ancient technique called "Heaving To" . Google it!