February 5th 2004:

Email from the Ship: The days are passing by and it is so peaceful and beautiful as we are gliding through this great expanse of water-the Atlantic. We feel the ocean breezes sometimes more than breezes and we hear the thuddering thomping noise of the engines. Tonight 2-4-04 is full moon and it is a gorgeous sight to see the moonbeams on the water and the bright stars in the sky. I would like to stay on the deck all night.

It's very warm now so we spend a lot of time sitting on the lounge chairs on deck, reading,chatting, watching the cloud formations and just relaxing.This afternoon I walked to the bow and watched the flying fish. When I heard about them I thought they were large fish jumping out of the water. Much to my surprise they are little creatures with wings and they jump and skim across the water like when you throw stones in the water and make them skip.

Tomorrow afternoon 2-5-04, we will be passing by Guadalope and then another 3 days to the Panama canal. We expect to be there after lunch on 2-8-04. The captain said that cargo ships usually go through at night. Sometimes there is a long wait until we can enter the canal. The ocean is calmer now so the ship is not rolling as much. Our position is N 19, W 55 and we are doing 16.3 knots. Tonight we all gathered in the lounge-the capt, his wife, the 2nd mate and the 4 cadets.It was a fun time.

-Mim