Boa tarde! We’ve arrived at day 13, the 1st of May. Now that the honeymoon is over, we are now seeing people’s true colours and the witty repartee is flying fast and furious! Last night was the first time we had quite rough seas which meant we had a fairly unpleasant night and plenty of sleepy heads this morning. Happy hour was on the light side due to the conditions, but Graham held our A-Star (Aft Starboard) flag high, skilfully manning the galley, almost single-handed!!!

Instead of the planned sail-handling talk at 11am, we were able to do the real thing and set all square sails but the Royals on both fore and main masts. Now we hope for smooth sailing all the way to Ilhabela, which the guidebooks say is a tropical paradise that boasts a Unesco-protected biosphere, complete with toucans and capuchin monkeys (but no mention of sparrows) as well as 360 waterfalls, all of which we hope to see in one day!

One other Big Event today was that Ronan, the medical purser, requested that we strip our bunks and pile the sheets high in a corner of the bar. The washing-machine is on the blink so he has clearly decided to expand his skills to include that of a ship’s dhobi-wallah!

Signing off from Aft Starboard watch, that is …… those who have not already retired to their bunks for what they consider to be a well-deserved siesta!….. Kay, Chris, CB and Kate (and on behalf of Roman and Graham).