Our clear, bright blazing day turned into a clear, starlit sky last night with "a million stars all around" (name that tune). We played with our Spot the Star app and put names to a few. Jupiter is the brightest with the Plough bright in the northern sky. The ones that confused us were the stars with additional red and green flashing lights. We had three of these across the horizon presumably launched by the 175 foot Kinimishimaru from Japan lighting up our northern horizon. One of the yachts said it's not unusual for the large offshore fishing vessels to have a spotter helicopter on board for tuna. But three? What doesn't make sense is why these things, helicopters or, more likely, drones, were aloft at night. And doing what? If anyone (mes enfants, par email) is near a Google engine it would be interesting to hear what it was. Aerial reconnaissance in the dark would only make sense if its thermal imaging for whale. But why the net?

We had the fishing vessel on AIS so we could see it in position 9 miles to the north of us. There was also a flashing bouy to the south, between us and the horizon so maybe 3 miles away. If the southern flashing light marked the end of the fishing net that would make the net 12 miles long. Why the Japanese are steaming 6,500 from home to fish is scary when we are just 2,000 miles from South America. Imagine the diesel for a 13,000 mile round trip plus, his on station costs. According to the AIS he has been here since 10th April. Plastic bottles, bags and general packaging is everywhere.

Sailing around on the oceans and dropping in on the places we pass, we are definitely becoming more eco conscious. We make landfall on the desert islands of the Kuna people in the San Blas, have a barbeque with 20 other yachts and leave them our "calling card" of black bags of rubbish. We visit the Galapagos and our daily three small bags of eco sorted waste are all chucked onto a giant heap, joining the massive amounts generated by the tour boats. This pile of trash at the end of the quay probably goes to landfill. Or hand sorting and recycling if you believe the PR. If you see the RIB's chucking all their plastic bags into this giant heap you might doubt that. Contributing even our little bit doesn't seem right.

Anyway, enough trash talk. Worldly problems aside, it's a lovely day, we have 16 knot Trades, we passed half way yesterday and we're just easing along beautifully. Goosewinged, Monitor doing the steering, Duogen and solar panels piling in the amps and fresh baked rolls on the way for lunch. All we're missing is a bite on the end of the line.