Early yesterday morning I was gently dragged out of dreamland by a familiar aromal. Slowly surfacing I noted the motion was smooth and the starboard engine was still purring along so we hadn't found any breeze since I had handed over to Fiona at 2am. It was now 7am so that meant Neen would be on watch. What was she cooking? It wasn't pancakes, not bacon and eggs, not brownies. Could it be......popcorn? Leaving my warm bunk to investigate I found her happily ensconced in front of her laptop watching a movie. Cam was snuggled up on one side of her reading one of the Potter books on the kindle and between them was a bowl containing a few lonely kernels of corn. The only thing worse than being woken up early by the smell of popcorn is finding that the bowl is empty. Neens offered to make some more but I decided on the more traditional fare of yoghurt and granola.

Fast forward 24 hours and we are back sailing again after spending about 15 hours motoring yesterday. It's cold, grey, wet and foggy outside but inside it's dry and warmish if a little damp. It would be nice to have the furnace to dry things out a little but if the light winds continue we may need the fuel in the furnace tank to get to Sidney and it may be a blessing in disguise.

Today's project is the port engine alternator which decided to quit working just before I turned in last night. I'm hoping for a loose connection but fortunately have a spare alternator if my sketchy electrical skills can't get this one working. Boredom is certainly not an issue on passage as there is always something to do, planned or unplanned. Yesterday's planned task was clearing out the drawers in the saloon, a task which was interrupted by the arrival of a good 2 meal sized albacore tuna on the end of our fishing line. Another sign that we have entered cooler waters as we've left the domain of the dorado behind. We're honing our fishing skills. Cam grabs the camera and Nina the gaff. With the loss of the net we simply pull the fish on board at which point the cockpit becomes deserted as the crew prefers not to witness the application of the mallet. Then follows a pleasant half hour or so preparing the fish and sampling sashimi before the stove is lit and the fish is fried before, as our good friend Juergen would say, it's family even knows it's missing.

5am now and time to send off some emails while radio propagation is good.

Then a cuppa tea and maybe a bowl of popcorn.