Day 21

Despite a paltry 60 miles in 29.5 hours, we've had a great day!

No wind and not enough diesel to get us all the way meant a day and a half of, essentially, drifting. It's been incredible conditions, the sea like glass, or silk and the deepest blue stretching away under clear skies with, at times not a breath of wind stirring the surface. It seems quite unbelievable that 100s of miles from the nearest land the conditions can be quite so still. The word "surreal" has been used more than once today.

The first surreal experience was deciding that it was very hot (32 degrees), very slow (under 1 knot) and that the sea looked very inviting. So in we went..... 850 miles from the nearest land, in water 4000m deep. Marcus' last words to me before I climbed down the ladder were "I'll be pretty annoyed if you get eaten by a shark". Only a brief dip but very refreshing, if not slightly unnerving and then back on deck for a sun-warm body wash - I'm the cleanest I've been in weeks!

Soon after, Marcus and I were chatting on deck when he suddenly said "Fish!! A big one" Swimming next to the boat were two beautiful, blue, iridescent mahi mahi (google them, they are amazing), soon the fishing rod was out, but they were so lovely and they looked so happy that we decided we didn't actually want to catch them (sorry, Russell). We used the Veho (go-pro rival) on a handy-hooker to film them underwater and dad got some great photos with the big camera. They were with us off and on for about an hour until we fed them some tuna pasta (covered in "their brothers" - thanks mum) and off they went.

The engine is back on now (boo) as we chug along in the still night. Marcus is hoping to avoid the downpours which only he and mum experienced last night and everyone is ready for the wind to freshen, which it is forecast to do....... but not for a few days.

Today we feel particularly fortunate to have this experience and certainly aren't wishing the days away just yet.

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