| At sunset on the second night - day 14 - the skies got misty and red, and the wind began to change. And it got very strong in fact - around 25 miles per hour most of the time. As more clouds moved in, the seas picked up too, with waves getting 10-15 feet high and generally pushing the Makulu about. Dinner was quite challenging, both to make (the galley is NOT the place you want to be when the ship is bouncing all over the place) and to eat. I skipped dinner that night, and I have very few pictures and videos for the next two days. Most of this time was a struggle to sail the ship and keep from getting sea-sick and falling overboard. (We DID have harnesses on actually, so that wasn't going to happen.)  | While that first night sailing was absolutely amazing - the sky was clear and the stars were dazzling - the second and third nights were quite challenging. The nights were inky dark and very windy. And it was hard to stay on course with no lights or a horizon to focus on. Very disorienting. You mostly stared down at the compass while steering the ship, and trusting that the equipment and our charts would keep us on track. | Above: Amie trying to get some sleep. Finally, on the morning of Day 16, we reached Cape York. This is the northern-most tip of the continent, and a stone's throw from Papau New Guinea. We rounded the Cape, and started heading west. The skies cleared as we came into the Torres Straits. | 
