Official Jessica Watson Blog

Nothing much new about the weather to report. It's still calm, warm and sunny. Lovely clear days followed by amazing sunsets. Our speeds have been slightly on and off as Ella's Pink Lady sometimes flies along on the flat water and sometimes just sits there, drifting forward ever so slightly.

Yesterday we found a flock of 'groppies'. These birds spent the day landing in the water next to us, watching us sail past, drifting off behind, then taking off to fly around in a big circle, landing next to us again. The bird's fascination with Ella's Pink Lady may have had something to do with the crackers and tinned vegetables I threw to them (yes I'm very pleased to have finally found a use for vegetables!). But whatever it was that had them coming back, it was nice to have the company.

Talking of company, for the first time in quite a while the AIS alarm went off yesterday, warning me of an approaching ship. Our paths looked set to pass pretty close and as it was a lovely clear day and I didn't happen to be sleeping at the time, I actually welcomed a bit of excitement. I pulled the washing down, brushed my hair and turned the stereo down in anticipation, so was a bit disappointed when they ended up passing too far off for me to make out the crew. Still, I had a nice conversation over the VHF with the watch-keeper who told me that they were also headed to Australia, to Port Kembla which is only just south of Sydney. They wished me luck before quickly disappearing again.

Later the wind dropped off and the sea glassed right out as the sun was setting which was just totally spectacular. The water was just like a mirror reflecting firstly the pink of the setting sun, then when it was dark, the stars. The silence was amazing. It was one of those 'OMG this is really happening' moments. But I could only enjoy it for so long before it became a bit eerie, so I turned the music back on.

Later in the evening I had a chat to Seamus, the pilot of a passenger plane passing close overhead. With all their cabin lights on I was hoping to be able to see them, but in the end our paths didn't quite cross close enough.

On another subject I've been discovering that despite being thousands of miles away and in the middle of the ocean, my brother Tom is still finding ways to annoy me. On top of the usual collection of terrible jokes written all over my food packets (if you'd heard Tom's jokes you'd understand!), this week I found that he had replaced some of the usual treats in the food bag, with a stash of salty plums, which he well knows is my least favorite food ever! He then responded to my complaints by sending me some not so lovely pictures of a recent operation to his toe. Aren't brothers just wonderful? There are definitely some things that I don't miss about home!

Our progress across the Indian Ocean chart is starting to look quite impressive. There's still a lot of them to go but the days and miles until home are really starting to disappear. I'm also expecting to tick off a lot miles over the next week, with some lively weather expected.

Well, I'm off to have lunch which happens to be self-saucing chocolate pudding (with cream and custard of course!). Then, as always, I've got a list of jobs to do before the wind starts getting up.

Jesse