We are now underway towards our last site and battling into the teeth of an extremely strong wind coming in from the northeast. While this is hardly a wild storm it is however making our going slow. While we can normally do more than 11 knt we are barely making 8.5 knt at the moment and out on deck it feels like you have to grip onto the rails to stop yourself from being blown away as you can see from this impressive photograph with Ivan Hernandez from on top of the bridge attempting to look at the sunset in the way that we normally do before dinner. The swell is a little deceptive because it does not seem so large when viewed from the deck of the ship but every so often the ship hits the waves just right and the whole vessel shudders as we smash into the waves and sometimes this is sufficient for water to come up over the bow. Within the accommodations the noise of the waves hitting the side can be quite impressive and a little disruptive to sleep. We are all keeping our fingers crossed that conditions improve because it will not really be possible to drill holes directly into the igneous basement after we arrive if this continues since that time for drilling usually requires greater than normal stability.