All at sea!

The odd thump on the hull indicates a wave breaking nearby. It is pitch black out, no moon yet. The stars shimmer above and lend a faint glow to the sky. Just over the horizon a glow remains constant. It is no doubt the big fishing boat that nearly ran over us the other night. Another sailboat reported similar behaviour to them last night. And they have a small orange helicopter on board that buzzed us today, circling Toketie then coming down low around us. No friendly waves, no response to
VHF, just checking us out. During the day today we saw them working with their big poled rig out, a huge operation of some sort. Drift nets? Watching for the high seas cops? Who knows!
Just checked in with the Pacific Seafarer's net. Toketie is on their roll call now so they expect a report including location, course, speed and weather information. This is then passed on to other sources including Yotreps which is a vessel reporting system that anyone can access online. I have been uploading our coordinates directly to the winlink site but if anyone is interested, I am sure Google would help you find the Yotreps postion reporting system and if you then find VA7DXF on the list,
you will see where Toketie is at the last reporting time.
Meanwhile the boobie war continues. Every few hours one or two or more of them circle the boat and attempt a landing, usually at the top of the mast. I can tell why they call them 'boobies'!! We make noise and so far have managed to persuade them to try someone else's boat!
Linda is off watch and catching some well earned zzzz's. Last night we fought with the pole on the foredeck trying to go directly downwind. Not as easy as it should be. And the rolling motion was so uncomfortable that we eventually cracked off 20 degrees or so and are sailing smoother and faster if not directly towards the waypoint. In a few hours, we will gybe and make a more southerly course. The boats ahead of us report 18 knots of wind from the NE so that will be nice when we get to it.
The trade winds have settled in, light but we are not complaining. It is fairly steady and the seas are predictable. All in all, an enjoyable ride at the moment!