On day 6 from Samoa to Kiribati we found ourselves in the doldrumsflat seas, no wind, and clear skies. We took down all sails to keep them from banging with every swell and decided to go for a swim. On all my prior ocean passages weve never had such calm water so this was my first mid-ocean swim. The water was about 16,000 feet deep and we took turns jumping overboard with snorkel and mask and swimming around the boat. We even stood on the bowsprit and swung on a halyard, landing 40 feet away at the stern of the boatdiscovering that by timing the start just as the boat rolled over an ocean swell, you could swing in a wider arc and have a longer ride! After a few hours, we finally gave in and started the motor to continue moving east. Day 7 was the perfect day at sea. After motoring all night (and getting more concerned about fuel consumption), the wind began picking up at 5am and allowed us to sail in a northerly direction. We sailed throughout the day and eventually the wind clocked around to the east, putting us on a NE heading pointing to Kiribati. Adam cooked up an awesome lunch of potatoes, sausage, cheese, and onion & garlic. In the early afternoon we pulled in our first fish a 3 ft long Wahoo. I filleted it on deck and we threw it in the refrigerator for the next day. We continued hand steering most of the day and then turned the helm over to Ian (our self-steering wind vane) for the evening watches. We watched a wonderful sunset, followed by Captains Hour an evening celebration with a Samoan beer, Tim-Tams, and music by Jimmy Buffet.