On Wednesday morning we reached our waypoint off the Brazilian coast and a lot of things started to happen. Firstly, we have had birds sleeping on the boat each night - sometimes they fall off when we get hit by a big wave but mostly they manage to hold on tightly. They then fly off around about 05:00, just as there is the faintest bit of light showing on the eastern horizon, heralding the new day. We also now have an abundance of birds around the boat during the day, carefully monitoring our fishing lures when we put them out.

Then we have had pods of dolphin arriving in groups of about thirty to fifty at a time, spending some time showing off at the bows and then moving on to, most probably, forage for food in the form of flying fish. There are millions of these little fish around us each day, taking off as the boat approaches them in huge "squadrons" to get out of our way. They most probably think we are a big flying fish eating monster trying to attack them.

And then we cannot forget the humans and their machines - ships! For over 1800 nautical miles we saw not one ship and had not one squeak out of the VHF radio. Then on Tuesday evening our world came alive with fellow seafarers around us. All shapes and sizes of ships from huge oil tankers to small fishing boats are being spotted each day and our ship spotting competition is in full swing with Hardy taking the lead at the moment. The VHF is also keeping us informed that there are a lot more ships out there than we can see, as we hear watch keepers on ships calling each other deciding how they are going to pass each other.

Our first day off the coast we managed to have a noon to noon run of 188 nautical miles, which is not too bad for a 38 foot boat! Our second noon to noon run has been 199 nautical miles - again quite a reasonable run. Let's see what the next few days bring. We have had wind ranging from 15 knots to 35 knots, which has churned up the sea and made conditions quite bouncy at times but the conditions do flatten out quite quickly once the wind drops below 20 knots. Fortunately, the wind is from behind and we are running with the wind and sea.

I mentioned the fishing lures above. Our freezer is now full of Dorado and Tuna so we have stopped putting out our fishing lines for a few days, until we have eaten at least some of it. Andries is the fish cook and has kept us well fed on some well prepared fish dishes with Hardy using the Yellowfin Tuna he caught for sashimi, which is not my favourite food - I prefer my fish cooked!

And a quick addition to the above - whilst sleeping this morning after my night watch, Andries wanted some fun and put out the lines again. The result is three more Yellowfin Tuna and more sashimi for the lads for lunch.

As we get closer to the Caribbean the conditions for email via the HF radio are improving with stronger and clearer signals. Hopefully I will be able to include a photograph every now and then to add to the blog reports as the signals get better.

Thanks to those folk who have taken the time to read my ramblings and to the few folk who have posted comments. My thanks also to a fellow HAM in Cape Town, Deon (ZS1ZL), who lets me know if there are any comments and keeps us updated on what is happening "news wise" back home.

Until next the next blog entry, regards from all three of us aboard A4001. John.