We've been on the same tack now for over 36 hours; we have a steady 15-20 knot Easterly blowing and the sea state is much more relaxed and hospitable, in fact it's basically "set and forget" sailing. Watch keeping is much more casual in these conditions, with monitoring and a little tweaking of direction from time to time as the wind fluctuates a few degrees either to port or starboard. The weather has oscillated from yesterday morning's gloomy grey sea and sky to glorious sunshine and now to overcast conditions . As we get further away from the Equator, colours are changing - the sky now has a tinge of baby blue at horizon level and the ocean is a deeper shade of cerulean. We are now less than 100NM from the Port of Refuge at Neiafu and looking forward to exploring a new country.

The waning moon is rising much later. Last night, the sky was awash with the glow of countless stars whilst the ocean sparkled with bursts of luminous phosphoresce. In the distance, there were occasional flashes of lightning, something we have not seen since leaving Colon. As the moon came up minus the top right hand corner, it appeared to be wearing an invisible hat, redolent of the Carly Simon lyrics "conveniently dipped below one eye". There are still very few flying fish and we are yet to spy our first humpback of this passage. Tongan tourism operators offer the opportunity for swimming with whales; it's a popular activity which is only able to be done with a licensed local agent (ie no jumping off your private yacht to splash around with Moby). We'll be happy just to see and photograph them.

All well onboard.