In another world

15:00UTC 13/08/07 34'53.4N 015'41.8W

Normal life seems a very long way behind right now. The weather continues to be benign, as the northerly breeze has ebbed away to a gentle force 2 and we have slowed to around 4 knots. The sea is very calm, extraordinarily blue and now 22.5'C - a swim beckons sometime soon. The sun beats down and we read, do little tasks, play games, prepare and eat food, and sleep. Even those on watch are getting a lot more sleep than at home - e.g. bed at 9pm, up at 2am for a night watch, bed again at 4am and sleep until 9am. Possible nap in the afternoon too. Watch keepers do only one or two 2 hour watches through the night, and in calm weather the system works perfectly. In rougher seas, they would be disturbed during their 'standby' period to help with reefing or ship watching, but here it's so quiet.

We have, in fact, just had today's moment of excitement when we spotted not one but two ships on the radar and they eventually passed within a mile of us. We see shipping on the radar frequently, but haven't seen an actual vessel for a few days. The other moment of excitement was the hooking of a large fish. It must have been large, because it got away before we'd reeled it in, but we are all sure it was a whopper. We all had to have a lie down after that, far too strenuous.

We hear that the UK and Biscay weather is set to turn grim again, and think how lucky we've been to get clean away with no bad weather. Long may that continue. Right now, we are less than 400 miles from the Canaries, where we expect our first landfall to be La Palma, because we should have a day or two to cruise the islands before arriving in Tenerife, and Amanda lived on La Palma for a while as a very small child, so it seems appropriate to visit.

We've used up pretty much all the fresh provisions, although our vast surplus of cheese continues to sustain us, as does Basil, who is alive and well and regularly sacrificing leaves to the cause. Interestingly enough, the meals just seem to get even better as the fresh stuff has gone, probably because Gesa's amazing meal plan tries doubly hard to be creative with tins and preserves. Last night's chickpea and salami casserole was a blinder. Tonight's Greek salad omlette will be a little inventive because I made an error and used the Feta two days ago but shh, don't tell Gesa or we'll be in trouble. I have little doubt that the cook (it's Owen's turn tonight) will come up with a suitable substitute.

till tomorrow, Adiós.

PS: 15:30UTC. Just stopped and all gone for a swim. Water 3167 metres deep. Nearest land 130 miles. Lovely.

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