Position: 02 degrees, 28 minutes South; 128 degrees, 01 minutes West (made 144 NM in last 24 hours)

We may not be catching a lot of fish, but they're jumping all over the deck at night. here's a flying fish that landed on the cabin top.

Yup, a nice, easy day even though it’s fairly windy and we’ve been averaging around 7.5 knots broad reaching with one reef in the main. Very sunny as a matter of fact. We’re both “hiding” from the sun today as it’s been so intense. We took advantage of the good weather by taking bucket baths in the cockpit. Usually, we bath up on the foredeck where there’s more room, but it’s also been windy and there’s a bit of a cross-swell which causes the boat to lurch unexpectedly, so it’s safer in the cockpit.

Ann has a nice new daily event. A couple of the other boats have organized an informal “afternoon chatternet” where they have some social interaction. They have a chance to compare notes on boat life and have a lot of fun keeping in touch. One of the other boats announced that they pulled in one of their fishing lines only to find just half a fish left on the lure. Oops. Well, not an hour later I pulled our hand-line in and; no lure! It had a wire leader that had been severed. I’m not sure whether by strength or teeth and probably don’t want to know as either are “no bueno”. Lost a really good lure.

Also, Ann made Apple Cinnamon Beer Bread. It came out great. We’re looking forward to toasting it for breakfast slathered with butter. Yum!

Pretty quiet day. Nice chance to recover from the last four or five very busy ones. That’s how Shellbacks roll!

OK, Shellbacks rule, Pollywogs drool. Adios till tomorrow (or maybe I should say; “bon souire”. We need to work on our French very soon (including the spelling).