So we are currently 330 nautical miles from Sierra Leone, and it is getting hot, hot, hot! Not hot as in tanning weather but sticky enough that every night more limbs are spilling out of bunks, people are waking up with wet sheets, not because they've had accidents in the night, and talk of sleeping on deck has begun. In the main salon we have been fortunately blessed with a new friend, the flying nun. She is a big cloth tube that we suspend above the hatch, and a side opening -her headless face- points towards the direction of the wind and transports us a little relief down below.  She is our new best friend and fo'c's'le dwellers have been making googly eyes at her, but luckily for us I think our 5am stitch job last night on her hem has sealed her loyalty. We're not far off our final destination now however we keep, particularly at night, hitting no wind, it feels like the Doldrums, the sails just flap around and we only make 1 knot! It's frustrating as we have been whipping along at 8 knots and this final stretch sometimes feels like we're in slow motion. At the same time I will be sad to stop sailing and so am trying to appreciate every moment. As a student we have been rotating in being the J-Wo (jay-whoah, Junior Watch Officer) where we are given more responsibility in leading the watch, navigation and so on. I'm enjoying the challenge and learning a lot. Last night I spotted a ship 27 miles away... no lie! And today at the same time as dolphins and a fish on line, we saw a huge refrigerator floating in the water! Flying fish have also been regularly making an appearance on deck at night and are Paul's newest fishing bait, they are crazy looking, I didn't realize they really existed. We stopped off on an island (Boa Vista) Cape Verde a few days ago, which was beautiful, covered by huge sand dunes, apparently it is often described as a little piece of the Sahara adrift in the Atlantic.  We only had two hours to explore on land, which was pretty surreal, and the whole experience seems like a bit of a dream now. Am really excited about getting to Sierra Leone and think its really cool that the only thing that will have got us there is the wind and our hard work.
 

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