Becalmed but not perturbed

At about midnight last night, as we crossed into the western hemisphere,
the wind died completely on us. We dropped the mainsail, furled in the
headsail and since then we have been completely been becalmed. Not
perturbed by this at all as we have our iron maidens propelling us
towards St.Helena, albeit a bit slower, but steady for sure. Our ETA at
our island of the Saints is now Sunday morning, and so be it then. Our
weather report predicts better winds on Tuesday again, so we will have
time to top up our water supply, tour the island, visit our friends and
pay our dues to the queen.We will hopefully visit Napoleon's house, meet
Jonathan the over 200 year old Aldabra tortoise, the oldest living
animal on the planet, yes , you can google and check it out; and Nick
and Eduan will do Jacob's Ladder, the tallest man made ladder in the
world. Loads of interesting facts about this vocanic rock in the middle
of the Atlantic. It was first discovered by the Portuegese 500 years
ago. They charted it but couldn't find it again for another 100
years.This charming island has been lost in a time capsule as you can
only reach it by sea, but this is soon to change. November last year an
airport has at last been approved by the British goverment. What it will
do to the island is the age old question of the pro's and con's of
progress. 201 million pounds have been budgeted for the building of the
airport and another 40 million pounds for the first ten years of running
costs. The contract was awarded to Basil Read of South Africa who
tendered against a French and an Italian company.

Yesterday just after supper Steven and myself caught a rare glimpse of a
sunfish basking in the sun. We turned the boat around as fast as we
could but could not find it again. Courtesy of my precious wife Lizette
who googled and send me some info on this weird looking creature we
learned that they grow up to 3m long and can way up to two tons. They
live on jellies, are not considered edible, are the most fertile fish in
the ocean hatching up to 300 million eggs at a time and a load more of
other interesting facts. Really so much out here and we look forward to
much more.

Nick decided he wants to learn how to bake bread. This was inspired by
him looking at a tin of strawberry jam yesterday. At the moment we have
Nutty Wheat flour kneaded dough outside in a bowl wrapped in a black
plastic bag to rise for 45 minutes. Heat the oven 10 minutes before the
time and 45 minutes later we should have Nick's first attempt at baking
bread.

Nautical term for today is Barcarole. A song with a slow tempo and sad
refrain of Venetian origin. It comes from the Italian barca, a small
boat and barcaruoli which was the name given to the men who sang and
rowed the gondolas through the canals of Venice.

Our position at the moment 19*25'S/000*53'W. We are just under 10 000 nm
from Tahiti. Ten weeks give or take a few days. The oven has just been
switched on. Ok, the dough has risen beautifully and is now being
transferred to our silicone baking pans sprayed with Spray and Cook. I
normally paint a little bit of water to make the crust crispy , some
people use a raw egg to paint on. Nick wants to use sunflower oil and so
be it then. Tomorrow you will know how it came out.

Until then have a terrific Thursday.

Captain Paul