After leaving St Helena I started my "Ship Spotting" competition, the prize to the person who spots the most ships on the section of the leg from St Helena to a point just west of Barbados, being a bottle of good quality Caribbean Rum. This morning Terry started the ball rolling by sighting the first ship we have seen since the fishing vessels the day after leaving Cape Town. So unused to seeing another vessel, Terry's remark on seeing it was "What the f%@# is that?". A ship sir - aren't they a strange sight! He leads the competition with Terry 1, everybody else 0. Terry's ship is show above.

We all enjoyed our Dorado dinner yesterday evening, cooked perfectly by Shaheda with a little assistance by Shaun. Regarding the cooking duties aboard, please do not think that Shaheda is our chief cook and bottle-washer. Each evening's cooking duties rotates and we all have our bit to play in the galley. Tonight is my turn (it should have been last night) and we are having a break from the fish. The menu is chicken kebabs cooked in a light sweet curry sauce served with peas and baked potatoes with a blob of butter and topped with a blob of cream cheese.

It looks like we will not be doing any fishing for quite a time as the freezer is full and there is just no further space for anything else. So, to keep ourselves occupied, the reading goes on and the large pile of books is slowly being devoured by us literary geniuses (ha, ha).

Last night on my watch, we had clear skies for a few hours and with no moon, the stars were exceptionally bright and a delight to watch. With iPod plugged into my lugs I sat marvelling at the spectacle, highlighted by the occasional "shooting star". My watch tonight is from 6pm to 9pm and, if the skies clear, I will try and count the satellites crossing the sky just after sunset. Please note the "if the skies clear" bit - we are having overcast skies with rain squalls on a regular basis and last nights stars are the exception at the moment.

We have only one problem on board at the moment and that is that our batteries are not holding a charge as they should. This means that we are having to run our engines for quite a time each day to keep our voltages high on the batteries. We are thus doing a lot of motor-sailing but if we cannot find out why we are not getting the power into the batteries, I may have to make a 'pit-stop' in Fortaleza, Brazil, to purchase more diesel. We are working on the problem but, as yet, have not been able to find out why it is occurring.

So, from a power deficient boat, greetings from all aboard until the next report.