Pos 10/5/19, 1645 local time, 20 31'N, 119 12'E. At dusk yesterday we found ourselve in a very busy place. It is the 'Squid-ing' season and squid boats of all kinds, listed as dive boats, a dredger and fishing boats, were out en masse. At the same time through the fleet at one stage were five ships passing north and south. We had at the height of this craziness 17 vessels around us, and this is in the sea miles from land. Many of the boats seemed to have Thai and Viet names, as well as a few with Chinese names. It took some time, about 5 hours to get past the fleet. when night fell it was easy to see them as to attract the squid they use such bright lights that you cannot look at them. Looking at a squid boat in the daylight you see a giant, floating porcupine, bristling with bamboo quills. They are an unusual sight. The madness occurs because squid is an Asian delicacy, and great as dried snacks. Once a year around this time the squid rise from the depths at night to breed. This is when they are jagged by the bouncing bamboo supported lines and hooks. It seems like a laborious business. I have no statistics on how many thousands of tons of squid are caught each year but it seems a miracle that there are any left in the sea. International pilots report that off Japan in the squid season there are so many boats out that the ocean below them looks like a huge city.

Concerning the Friends who came to visit. Around dusk we spied fins. Dolphins! Lots of them and they raced to our boat to play. We called Hunter up to the deck and he was very excited to see them. He last saw dolphins near Sydney and the last sighting was off three or four of them was in Qld, Australia. Our visitors were Spinner Dolphins with their pale, elegant racing stripe along the side. They are small, agile and playful, leaping and twisting and showing off like puppies playing. At any one time at least a dozen were taking a free ride on the bow while others circled and jumped and tail slapped just because they can. Hunter barked and barked his greetings and put his head through the railing on the bow to watch them under the water, and coming up for air. They stayed for about a half hour then one by one swam off to join the squid boats in squidding. I believe squid are a favorite food of dolphins. This morning at first light, Hunter came up the steps to go out to his 'dog park'. The first thing he did was trot quickly down the deck and put his head through the railing on the bow, looking down into the water. Alas his friends had gone, so he stood there barking as if to call them to come back. Naturallu not only Hunter wants them to return. Perhaps this evening at dusk......

The early hours of this morning a small low and Shonandra passed each other by, the low headed east and us headed west. It was very wet for a few hours with wind in all directions and a lumpy sea, which wasn't large like the Philippine Sea experience. It has gone now but the sea is left a bit lumpy without much discernible pattern. One interesting phenomena is the presence of dragon flies. There are many orange ones flitting around the boat. I don't like to see them as they usually come out before a typhoon, so we will get to HK as fast as possible.

Here's hoping more friends come to visit. John and Ginni