We are four days away from Hawaii and everyone is happy to be close to the islands. The weather today is not as clear as it has been the past few days and the seas are still relatively calm with the occasional unexpected roll. Tonight we again set the clocks back another hour to time zone +10. This should be the last time it's necessary to do this. Unfortunately, we are sailing through a mild cold front which has postponed some of the activities we had planned today. However, we will move past this slight delay and will persevere. 

Between 0800 and 1130 there was a lot of activity throughout the Bear, with engineers busy doing basic repairs to advanced tasks in the engine room. Some of these tasks included clearing clogged drains in one of the fan rooms. This happens every so often and it is important to clear them so there is not standing water on the deck.

Meanwhile some of the deckies were learning some knot tying and were getting ready to create their own sea bags. With this project they learn how to make something they can be proud of and hopefully it will be useful to them in the future. Some of the deckies were painting the interior passageways and cleaning some of the stair towers.

In the hour or so between lunch and the start of work some cadets were found on the fantail fishing. Two cadets succeeded! Cadets Sturgeon and Risko caught mahi-mahi which for Sturgeon was his first ocean fish catch.

As we sail through a small patch of weather, we are met with some larger rolls and a cooler breeze on deck. Everyone is in good spirits even if you can see the exhaustion on some of the faces. We look forward to what lies ahead and are still remaining hopeful to be let off in Hawaii. If we are allowed off the Bear there will a lot of cadets and crew taking advantage of the opportunity to enjoy a little break even if it is for a few hours.