Hello all, before I give you news from the Atlantic let me apologies to those whose emails are bouncing back. This is due to the spam filtering. No worry though, I get the notice of the mail you sent, add you to the whitelist and the problem should not reoccur.

With the rise of the new day yesterday we truly put the calm seas and lack of winds behind us. There is still a sense of excitement about the two really large fish we caught. Whilst Terry may not have the strongest stomach he has certainly proven to have the strongest arms as he battled both fish to get them on board. These weighed approximately 35kg each! Our freezer is filled with fish and we may only need to fish en route to the Caribbean next. I never thought I'd pass on shashimi but this afternoon I decided to give the shashimi a miss, aren't we spoilt.

From the picture you will see that the sunrise yesterday was a beautiful crimson affair. As the saying goes red skies at night is a sailors delight and red clouds in the morning is a sailors warning. Well these words certainly came to pass as we battle high winds and huge seas again last night. As I write this we are still bobbing away merrily and there seems to be very little respite in the coming days. There is another saying that goes "Africa is not for sissies, well I can tell you the South Atlantic is not for sissies either.

We have settled into a routine on board and we are able to find things and walk around despite being thrown from port to starboard. Mornings is a lazy start with those who went off the last watch still catching up with sleep and the one on watch preparing to go to sleep. However from about 9am onward there is a bit of a gathering in the saloon, each has whatever he feels like for breakfast. Lunchtime most of us are awake and we tend to share something to eat before we tune the radio to 14.316 MHz at 12:30 UTC to listen to the Maritime Net where we share weather information and listen to the days predictions for our area. We then do whatever we wish and gather around the radio at 16:00 UTC and tune in to 14.2375 MHz and call for other radio hams to join us in conversation. Most of these are from South Africa but we have had calls from Europe and the UK as well. Supper is made by whoever feels like it and is served at about 6pm and the cycle then starts all over again.

There was a sense of excitement today as it officially shower day today. We are allowed to use fresh water for a shower today and I have saved mine for when I come off watch tonight which will be at midnight.

We are however expected to arrive at St. Helena Island on Sunday the 25th or latest Monday if things slow down somewhat. Everybody on board is looking forward to some terra-firma, Shaheda wants to get to a hair salon, Terry desperately wants a meat pie, John wants to meet old acquaintances and I just want to stop bobbing about for a bit. Our plan is to ask one of the kind gents on the Island for a guided tour, I am really looking forward to this. Shaheda will do a bit of genealogy research as she has distant relatives who hail from here.

The whole trip so far has been very interesting and I have learnt a hell of a lot. I am so grateful I got to do this with someone like John who has a wealth of experience in these matters. Anything from interpreting weather information to subduing a large yellow fin tuna.

Another big thanks to all those who are helping with messaging to and from home, all those who read the blog , leave comments and the emails. We really appreciate it.

Regards from all on board.