Noon position 33 01N, 16 21W. We were looking at the pilot guide early yesterday morning and it was saying that when approaching Madeira from the north a small island called Ilha Do Porto Santo is passed. Having looked at the chart we decided to stop for the night and a wonderful little place it turned out to be. It measures approximately six miles by one and has a population of about five thousand. The beaches are beautiful and it would be nice to stay longer, but our time table dictates that we should be moving south, and we are now about six hours away from Funchal on Madeira, under a cloudless sky at 27 degrees c.

Rather worryingly, the water tanks dried up yesterday which makes repairing the water maker the number one priority over the next few weeks, as well as making the hatches water tight.

I was talking to a skipper from Denmark this morning and as we were saying our farewells, he said good people always meet twice. I hope we do!