Last night was one of the flatest calms I have ever seen; for most of the night there was literally not a breath of wind. There is a very slight long swell, but otherwise nothing but the stars and a slim, banana-like moon, lying on its back. This provided a surprising amount of light, which reflected eerily off the placid sea. Some of the brighter of the myriads of stars - maybe the planets or satellites - also made ghostly reflections on the surface. It's hard to belive that we were in the same ocean as only a couple of days ago, with its uncomfortable, lumpy seas and a strong, changing and difficult wind. But, comfortable as it was, no wind means no progress, and we've still no wind this morning. So the engine is on, and we are burning fuel as an alternative to wallowing around waiting for the wind to return. Annoyingly, although our speed through the water remains the same, our speed across the surface of the globe has dropped by about two knots - we have a strong current against us. This is despite the claims in all the books that the current should be flowing from East to West. Not only will this delay our arrival in Cairns, but also if this weather stays as it is, and the forecast suggests it's going to be calm for most of today, we will burn a lot of fuel!
So it's a morning of writing, sorting out the hundreds of photos that Elizabeth has taken - her departure is getting close, and otherwise they'll be lost to me as a source of inspiration and recall. And we've Will's to do as well. Once we get to Cairns, I expect both of them will be so busy, it will be hard to pin them down to such mundane tasks as transferring photos from cameras and chips to computer. And the Skipper can dream up all sorts of not very pleaseant tasks for us, such as cleaning out the grey water tank. Ugh.
All well with us, and best wishes to everyone.
James, Elizabeth and Will
Yacht Cleone