Day 3 has seen us settling into the routine onboard and saying farewell to land for a couple of weeks.

We reached La Palma in the afternoon and followed the spectacular western coast southwards till we got to the area of the volcano. By arriving in the dark we thought we would have a dramatic view of molten lava cascading down the mountain.

All we saw was a tiny hint of red surrounded by smoke, which was too distant to even be worth photographing. Our visit had not gone unnoticed, however, and the VHF phone rang enthusiastically with a call from the Canaries Volcano Authority who cordially advised us that we had strayed into the active exclusion zone.

For a couple of hours we remained in the wind shadow of La Palma and then picked up some decent wind which carried us well until changing direction and the need to rig preventers etc for another gybe at dawn. We have stuck on port for the whole day, with intermittent lulls, but mostly at 25 knots and giving us the perfect course.

Cooking is appearing as the main topic, with sea legs now fully established, and we have already had to throw out some early perishables necessitating creativity for the next meal. Tonight sees David's tagine and a surprise dessert!

Thank you for all your comments - we really enjoy them.