Well, it's officially hot.  At 0435 this morning my watch and I declared it officially hot.  The wind was light, the sea calm and sun hadn't even thought about rising but it was hot.  Sleep is pretty much out and sweating-buckets is in.  But that is what we came here for.  We are about 150 miles off the coast of Africa, steering full and by trying to lay Freetown and squeeze the last out of the trades, which have been so good to us, and make a dramatic entrance into Freetown Harbour.  We keep expecting the trade winds to die out as we sail south, and they have been every night, but then they always seem to pick back up around sunrise just as we are shooting morning stars.  Keep shooting stars or trim sail?  The sails can wait, Arcturus and Sirius will only be up there for another few minutes and we have a continent to run into.  And not just any continent, the biggest and the baddest: Africa. In just a few days we will be sailing into Freetown, Sierra Leone and diving into the unknown.  What will a country so recently involved in a civil war be like?  We have been reading plenty about Sierra Leone, the people, the war, the history, but to actually be there will most likely be life changing.  Not to be dramatic, but I can't say I remember feeling this sort of anticipation for a port stop, and not for the usual cold beer and a shower, but for the reason that I have almost no idea what it will actually be like.  I have read all the books and seen the pictures but how will the people receive us and the vessel?  The rumor board has been whispering of big parties with local musicians and politicians, thousands, maybe tens of thousands of people and a week of open ship in the sweltering African heat with enough people to sink the ship at the dock. Are we ready for this?  I would say we are, just hang on for the ride, come-to two weeks later on a plane with a mustache and an African party shirt and try to remember it all. It may not be easy, but then again nothing worth doing usually is. 

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