Position   15:51.13N   35:37.47W

Mahi Mahi continue to follow us and be tempted by our lines. 
It was John’s turn yesterday to bring in a nice one.  In short order he (the fish, not John) became tasty crevice for evening appetizers.   Lesley prepares the marinade and appreciates the end product but happily leaves John to do the dirty work.

‘Timeless’ is sailing like a dream at present. ‘Almost’ directly to St Lucia. We seem to be eating up the miles on a Broad/Beam reach.

During last night to early this morning we overtook the only sailing yacht we have seen since leaving the sight of land. We passed within a mile and half of each other. It’s quite amazing how little and insignificant a sailing yacht looks in a vast ocean like this.

John explains predicted wind information we periodically download as GRIB files. 
It’s a fantastic resource for course planning.
Our weather remains cloudy with brief showers, water temp a surprising 28 C , winds E and SE 13kts gusting to 26kts.
The weather forecast predicts a scrappy wind area about 600 miles west of us and so we are still heading south west so that we pass pass just below it – fingers crossed.

Enjoyed our first cockpit Movie Night.  We screened Captain Phillips. 
A great movie, based upon pirates kidnapping a cargo ship  hmmm.
It kept us all on sharp lookout that night! 
No pirates spotted. 

By nightfall yesterday we set our sails for a nice beam reach.  Bob and Cathy shared their watch beginning at 2 AM and it seemed we would set a record for an uneventful 4 hours.  Unfortunately, just before 6 AM we noticed a vertical batten falling out of the mainsail.
Quick!… Out on deck to retrieve all 50 feet of it.
The batten must have snapped a couple of days ago when the sail baton twisted as we furled the mail sail in.  It didn’t look like much of a deal at the time - but the damage was done.  Hopefully the tiny hole in the sail will not increase; we will put the broken batten away for replacement later.

Routines are well established as we approach the approximate halfway point of the voyage.  It generally goes something like this…………

Eat,

Complete  Watch, where snacks are available

Eat,

Grab a nap to prepare for the approaching Snooze time,

Eat and….

Sleep.

 As Cathy noted, “We barely get a bed made around here before someone crawls back in!”. 

A second movie night was canceled due to lack of interest  -  we were too tired.

We are finding time though for some interesting reading. 
Cathy is finishing The Lion Seeker, a powerful, uncomfortable tale set in South Africa. 
Bob G. has a thriller by David Baldacci on the go and Lesley is following a family saga through the war years.
Nice diversions from eating and sleeping.