The Indian Ocean

Heading west from the Cocos Keeling islands For the first 24 hours we enjoyed calm seas and beautiful sunshine, clipping along at 8.5 knots. Par caught a fine yellow fin tuna which was made into sashimi and the steaks cooked on the BBQ. We are now over 800 miles into our journey to Mauritius. A third of the way after 4 days. We are settling back in to the routine of life at sea. Following the early calm we are now into ocean swells and warm trade winds usually over 20 knots. Motion is endless and moving around means always having 'one hand for the boat'. Most routine things like dressing and showering are an extra challenge! Ruth 2's 40 tonnes seems so small and insignificant in the vastness of this ocean. James has us all working on our splicing, he is a great teacher. Our range of rope craft has expanded greatly. We communicate by radio, morning and evening with the rest of the Oyster fleet, sharing positions and experiences. We then plot the positions of the fleet on our digital charts. We have tracked to the north of the fleet, believing we will find more favourable currents. This also gives us a better angle to Mauritius towards the end of our journey as the winds are expected to move further east. We miss the moon of our earlier passage, nights are dark but the stars are fantastic. Computer tells us about 1500 miles to go.
Endless blue.