This is the end of our third day at sea. The wind has been just forward of the beam at between 12 and 18 knots and has held out better than forecast so we are very happy, doing 6 knots under almost ideal conditions, but it may not last. The sky is clear with a scattering of fine weather Cumulus clouds and the sea is a stunning luminous blue (which cleared suddenly about 10 miles offshore from Mexico). A note on light wind sailing abeam or forward thereof: If you are sailing along nicely in such a situation with an apparently steady breeze and have to depower the sails (to change sails or wind in big fish, etc.,) it is amazing to realize how little wind there really is. It is the sails that drive the boat into what little breeze there is and thereby increase the apparent wind they have to work with so the boat goes faster, and so the apparent wind again gets stronger, and so on and so forth. It's very pleasant.

About 100 miles away from land we picked up our first hitch-hiker, a light grey/bronzy coloured dove (pigeon ?) with a half black collar with a white border around his neck. He has emboldened himself as time has passed and now lives in the cockpit with us, specifically foraging in Frances herb garden. She has named him Splash. So the question is how far will he go ? All the way to Hiva Oa ? Possibly but it's a long, long way. He's a good distance offshore now but no doubt it in pigeon terms, it would be an easy flight back to Mexico.

Also as the sun set last night the various species of Boobies that were circling Monkey Fist had a round of musical chairs with our bowsprit. There were many birds flying around vying for a spot but once birds had staked their claim any attempt to land on the bowsprit was accompanied by fierce sqwarks and protests from the incumbent residents. We ended up with 8 birds, 3 different species perched there overnight. In our ignorance we believed that as soon as dawn broke they would be off hunting again. Not so, it seems this new perch was prized territory with no desire to vacate apparent (new residents brought the total to 11). There are many other birds circling and swooping down attempting to gain a possie. Birds have unbelievable balance and can perch on something as thin as a centimetre in diameter and then tuck their head under their wing and manage to go to sleep while rocking back and forward. Impressive. We don't mind them roosting there because on other passages, they have shown a preference for landing on the top of the mast damaging our instruments. Or they roost on the mast spreaders or solar panels which they must find very relaxing because they seem to immediately release their bowels and make an unbelievable mess. For now, we have been spared that misery.

On that note we'll sign off for now and update in a few days.