The wind (20 knots plus from ESE) and sea once again continued in the same vein for much of the morning so once again we spent the day with the same sail plan.  As it was Sunday we decided to take a day off and sit in the cockpit reading (for a change!)  Very pleasant it was too.

The wind started to die off a bit later in the day and stayed “relatively” light throughout the night but we still had the big waves so a bit rolly.  Sometimes we look at the sea and it really does seem as if it’s more organised then other times………..

I haven’t talked about the nights yet and we have had some really lovely ones.  We had a full moon a few days ago which keeps everything bright but now it’s up later so we can see the stars in all their glory.  We can identify quite clearly up ahead of us  Venus and Jupiter shining brightly early in the night and in the south, the Southern Cross at the end of the Milky Way with the Plough appearing out to the north later in the night  – quite a spectacular sky – we could do with Patrick Moore to tell us what’s what though!  It’s very peaceful sitting in the cockpit with just the sound of the waves sloshing along and watching the black contours of the seas from horizon to horizon with the foam lighting up with bio-luminescence.  Last night was probably one of the most peaceful with not too much wind. We’ve been doing a 5 hour watch system in the night which seems to work well for us on this leg. We met a tanker at 10.00 last night who came within 0.5m. Although we had him on AIS and Radar he did not respond on VHF, but did take action to avoid us. This was the first ship not to engage in a friendly chat.

24 hour distance:   184 miles    Position: S10.23.880 W129.06.783