Managed around a 125 miles over the last 24 hours. Main news of the day has revolved around fish and the weather!

First of all a flying fish came on board last night narrowly missing the kettle. It was soon gutted and the early morning crew fried it for breakfast.  Very nice but we could have done with half a dozen of them and a full fried English breakfast!

Then at about 10.20am local time we there was a tug on the line and the excitement rose as we prepared to land our first large fish. Half an hour later a barracuda-like fish just less than 3foot was landed by Dirman. It was quickly chopped into steaks and served for lunch, with the remainder being made into fish balls for tomorrow.

Meanwhile the weather has taken a bit of a turn for the worse and it has been raining for the last few hours. Our little ship is now wet and slippery on deck and pretty damp inside. It has however given us the chance to have our first fresh-water showers for two weeks. Excuse the pun but every cloud has a silver lining.

Last 24hrs run was a 108 miles.

Main event today has been another fish catch. This time a slightly larger dorado which has made two excellent meals. Currently the wind has dropped and we are making less than 2 knots through the water. Hopefully the wind will pick up again tonight otherwise we will be in for a sub 100 mile run until noon tomorrow.

Only made 66 nautical miles over last 24 hours.

Main event was a MOB (man over board) drill.

An even poorer  run as we have only recorded 31 nautical miles over the past 24 hours. Light (almost non-existent) winds and several hours of rain resulted in a  rather damp ship last night. Very few dry bunks to be found and those that have them are keeping quiet.

The lack of wind has caused a re-evaluation of our plan and we have decided to head further south in search of the elusive South East Trade Winds. Hopefully we will pick them up in a day or two.

Yesterday we went in search of the South East Trade Winds and by nightfall we had found what we were looking for. And over the 24 hours we made 94 miles, mainly coming during the last 18 hours.

Unfortunately we also found heavy rain that has drenched the cabin, bunks and our clothes overnight. At times last night there seemed to be more rain in the cabin than outside. Today has been cloudy with more rain; so much of the ship remains damp. The good news was that we caught another large dorado around three foot long. This is our fourth large  catch of the trip so far and has produced two good meals. This evening’s meal (prepared by Reg) was dorado steaks in Dijon sauce with rice. An excellent meal and made up for an otherwise rather damp 24 hours. 

Now that we have found some good winds our rate of progress has been restored. Over the last 24 hours we have managed just over 150 nautical miles, which represents a good day’s run. We are also now at the half-way stage across the Indian Ocean and approaching the Chagos Islands which include the military base of Diego Garcia.

The weather has improved a little and whilst things are still a bit damp they are not as bad as they were. We caught another 3 foot dorado this morning bringing our catch to 5 so far. Almost as many have been hooked but got away before we could get them on board. So our technique still has room for improvement!

One of the best day’s sailing we have had for over a week, warm sun and blue skies. And over the last 24 hours we have done 162 nautical miles. 

We have just over 1300 miles to run before the Seychelles. Tempting to think that we will be on dry land in about 10 days but winds can disappear as easily as they appear.

Our best day yet with 177 nautical miles covered over the last 24 hours.

The ship is cruising along and we have had a great day’s sailing. We are now about 1200 miles from the Seychelles and just south of the Chagos Islands.

169 nautical miles covered over the last 24 hours.

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