Mt. Dudo: leaving our anchorage in Port Smyth, Shamma Island, in calm seas and light northerly winds, everything soon changed and for 36 hours we made slow going into near gale-force head winds and strong counter-currents. We are now taking shelter in an extraordinary anchorage formed by the crater of an extinct volcano. As we came in last night, the moon lit up the sand-covered rocks which appeared as white-hot lava flowing into a sizzling sea. This morning the scene is no less extraordinary with the peaks of the mountains across the desert in the distance and around our bay, the cones of the old volcanos are streaked with flows of jet-black lava like a chocolate sundae melting in the sun.