Good sailing on the trip back meant that we arrived back in Stanley at about 9am on Tuesday morning. We had a steady breeze in the 15 to 20 knot range and averaged 7.5 knots for the trip back which is not bad going for a vessel of this size. The wind was from the NNE so we were sailing very close to the wind for the first sector but once past the Eddystone Rock and Cape Bougainville were able to bear away a bit when the sailing came fast, smooth and quiet.

Life goes on in the ocean 24 hours a day even if you can't see it, one of the beautiful things about sailing in these waters on a nice night is what you can hear; birds calling, the occasional startled squawk from an albatross surprised by the stealthy approach of the yacht, the breathing and splashing of dolphins as they take turns to ride the bow wave, and the deep rumbling breathing of the bigger whales. Occasionally you see a glowing green dolphin as is swims through a patch of phosphorescence.

On this particular evening scene was lit by a quarter moon so the shape of the land to the south could be seen as well as the occasionally whale spout when it was caught in the moonbeam. The high cloud to the far north was very brightly illuminated, presumably, by the Illex squid fishing fleet jigging up thousands of tonnes of the little creatures for the Asian markets. Ahead of us to the east was another fishing fleet this time trawlers fishing for Loligo squid for the European market.

One wonders exactly what part of the food chain is being affected by the removal of so much biomass? The squid eat something and something eats the squid and if a significant quantity of the squid is removed each season something must be filling the void; I wonder what that is?

The image with this entry shows part of the Loligo fishing fleet displayed on our chart plotting software as they fish NW of Volunteer Point.