Saturday was a beautiful day of warm sunshine, hardly a cloud in the sky, smooth sea but little wind! We continued motoring until the wind filled from the south west after lunch and have continued to sail at 5+kts in a gentle 10-12kts of breeze over a smooth sea on a close reach. These are perfect conditions for Vega and I was impressed to see that the sails that have brought us around the world are still looking fine and hold a good shape. The sail material is Vectron - Dacron with a Vectron thread to reduce stretch over long distance cruising.

The Azores are known for large populations of whales and dolphins. So far we have only seen one whale but throughout yesterday we were visited by pods of Atlantic Spotted Dolphin and Short Beaked Common Dolphin. I’ve never before had them swim with us throughout the day. For identification purposes we have been consulting the marine mammal guide we have on board and it makes for great reading even without having sittings to match. We also researched the whales that frequent these waters and this is a hotspot for Pilot whales and Sperm whales. It has been one of my ambitions on this circumnavigation to see a Sperm whale and I have searched in vain. Until now it would appear! The large whale we saw the other evening had a very distinctive blow which produced a dense, round cloud of spray angled forward and to the left of the whale. It was loud too but the appearance is very typical of sperm whales. Furthermore the males are solitary at this time of year and this was a big, lone whale with a shallow back profile and small dorsal hump. Definitely a Sperm whale!

As it happens Olly was reading Moby Dick when we saw the whale. The male Sperm whale can grow to more than 19m in length - almost twice the length of Vega! The thought of chasing after one in a 20ft rowing boat and harpooning it is terrifying - but probably even more so for the whale. It looks like we have reduced the world wide population to around 300,000 so seeing one has been a real privilege.

Another gastro day yesterday. Supper was paella with brown basmati rice, chicken, prawns, spicy saucisson, onion, garlic, peas and sweetcorn. Chilli, paprika, turmeric, black pepper and a vegetable stock cube were key ingredients. Top tips; soak brown rice for a few hours before cooking. Pre-cook the onions and the chicken with the spices and fry the rice in the spices before adding the onions and vegetables and simmering. Add the chicken and raw prawns 10 minutes from the end of cooking the rice. Probably our best meal of the passage.

Smoked salmon for breakfast later with baked beans for that truly exquisite experience.

I have now been introduced to Trip Hop music. Think rapping but without the rapper (which has to be an initial bonus). If you like catchy laid back rhythm made up from music samples continued somewhat repetitively then this is the music for you!

Annie has been in touch with the marina which advised her that they were full, we would have to anchor off and furthermore there are a lot of boats in the anchorage. They told me a while ago that they were always full but that they could find space for a small boat like ours. I will try and hold them to their word as anchoring off will be a pain, other than for tonight. There are a lot of yachts on AIS heading into Horta!

Today is Day 20 but we are hoping to arrive before dark and I probably won’t have the energy to post anything other than confirmation of arrival. It has been a real pleasure having Oliver on board and his enthusiasm and relatively youthful energy have made light work of sailing the boat. I think we have got on pretty well over three weeks of being cooped up together and have lots to look forward to back in Blighty with the grandchildren and managing his land in the Brecon Beacons. I hope my irritating fatherly habits haven’t been too intolerable.

For my part I have also missed Annie terribly and it will be wonderful to meet up again this evening after three weeks.