This update comes slightly later than normal. Recently, I’ve been attempting to settle into a bit more of a routine in order to make better use of the day. However, invariably something comes along to mess that all up. Today, during my “heat of the day” break, I suffered a bit of a back problem that delayed rowing for an hour - I fell asleep on it (oh dear, I think I’ve just made the kind of horrendous joke my dad might find funny - I feel dirty and ashamed). Because of that I’ve felt duty-bound to try and make up the lost time, so here I am, sending this late in the evening, still with another couple of hours’ rowing to go before I get to sleep (that’s the cue for a big “awww”).

The weather hasn’t quite picked up as much as I’d hoped. Rather than firing me all guns blazing towards Antigua, it seems to be more of a gentle nudge in the right direction. It’s also, rather than pushing me directly south, rather than west at all. This isn’t really a bad thing though, as it should, theoretically, be guiding me into the area where everything, wind, sea and turtles, push you along at breakneck speed. We’ll have to wait and see if it works.

There’s been a bit of a lack of wildlife to gaze at recently, of the wet kind at least. Ever since I left Gomera, I’ve been regularly visited by birds. One type has appeared almost daily and, sure enough, he turned up again today. Whether it’s the same one every day, I’m not sure, but it’s nice to think it might be! One time he even had a partner in tow, and they put on a nice little aerobatics display, bobbing and weaving through the waves. In the last week, I’ve also had a bigger bird do a few fly-pasts. He just appears out of nowhere, does a couple of laps of the boat, then disappears into the distance.

Today, I was prepared. On first sight of them, out came the camera. Now, taking pictures of flying birds is not easy. Taking pictures of flying birds who constantly change direction from a rocking boat with a camera with a pitiful zoom is nigh on impossible. Nevertheless, I did my best, and you can see the results!

What I’d love to know is where do they sleep? And what are they?! Answers on a postcard addressed to “the little boat in the mid-Atlantic” (actually, probably better to send a message - it might arrive before I finish!).

Right, back to rowing now I’m afraid. At least it’ll teach me not to fall asleep in the middle of the day!