11th January , 2010 Half way to Galle. This morning we passed the half way mark and the wind filled in to a respectable speed. Coffee and banana cake to celebrate. Yesterday the MPS pulled us along lazily at between 2 and 4 knots a very pleasant break from motoring. A small pod of dolphins swam along with us matching the slow speed of Tuatara until they decided we were too slow and sped away to the north. Dolphins are always a delight to watch and this time we noticed two swimming together very closely. The larger kept contact with the other with its fin slightly stretched to continually touch the other as they swam. They swam together continually never breaking contact even when ducking and diving around our bow.

The MPS stayed up most of the night until we changed watch at 2am we decided the batteries and freezer needed a run and we needed to put a few more miles under the keel. Until then we had been ghosting along under a sky full of stars, seemingly no one else but ourselves in the world. The stars seem so bright and so close, close enough to reach out and touch. The Pot starts the evening on our stern in the east and by early morning it has moved nearly to our bow and turned upside down. The waning moon is rising later and later, this morning a small orange crescent crept up over the horizon, a cloud across its centre turned the moon into the glowing sinister eyes of a witches black cat on a dark night.

During the night we both saw the flashing lights of planes passing overhead. Travelers taking a few hours to get to a destination that would take us weeks or months to reach by boat. Today I don't envy them but catch me on a windy night bouncing along on rough seas I would be wishing myself up there snug in a comfy seat. The two planes I saw last night were only about 10 minutes apart, one going north then one going south in roughly the same air space. I did wonder if the north bound pilot had turned around because he had forgotten his flight plan. We are not out here by ourselves after all.

We met up with Wolfgang and Eva on Sleipner, 2 afternoons ago, just as the sun was setting we passed over our small offering of 25 litres of petrol. They put their dinghy down and Wolfgang floated out so we could pass the fuel containers to him. We had thought we would be able to go along side but although there was little wind the swell was bigger than we realized and we were in danger of bringing our bow down onto the lower cabin height of Sleipner. Within 20 minutes, transfer done, we were on our way again. The wind filled in a little and we were able to sail through most of that night until we gave in at just over 1knot and turned the motor on. We slowly crept ahead of Wolfgang and Eva, they sailed to fill their spinnaker and save the precious fuel. Yesterday we were still in VHF range but today our few hours of motoring has pushed us out of range. The morning Indian Ocean Net sked on the SSB will keep us in touch until we meet them properly in Galle.

My turn to look around outside, and what do I see but white buoys from a fishing net, the buoys stretch for miles in front and miles behind us , luckily we have been sailing parallel to it. The buoys are very hard to see but the fishing boat and its mother ship to the south of us is easier to see. We had heard about these 10 mile long illegal nets in the North Indian Ocean and now I think we are seeing one for ourselves. Luckily they have had the sense to string their many miles long net east west as most boats big and small in this area are traveling along the east west line and hopefully won't need to cross it whether or not they see it. We have changed Tuatara's course a little to make sure we don't cross it, as what is under the water and how far down is unknown. Greenpeace where are you? Forget about the cold south come up here to the warm north and sort out these illegal netting practices.