Daily report for 21st May. “We’re rowing in a circle again on the Pacific, or to be more specific, in the North Fiji Basin. Yep, so there’s another depression there that’s causing me to row in another circle counter-clockwise under the guise of saying, “Just enjoy these extra miles – it’ll be over before you know it!” Oh well, so I’m in another depression. I’ll just have to sit it out. There’s nothing else to do.”

“The next morning I got up at six o’clock sharp. I didn’t want to get too much sleep, as sleeping more than is good for you is a classic sign of developing a depression, and besides, I needed to get back to the rowing. I cast a glance outside and saw an intense blue. I turned the GPS on and studied the behaviour of the arrow on the screen closely. What?! It’s pointing due east. How can that be?! I stepped outside and looked around me, but the bright light just hurt my eyes. Apart from a single small cloud everything was the most INTENSE shade of blue you can imagine and the sun was shining brightly, just like it should be in the tropics on the Pacific. So what’s all this about a depression?! It’s quite clearly a thing of the past.

This has to be the most wonderful sky I’ve seen since my departure, and all it needs to make it complete is a standard trade wind coming from the east. So why is it that the wind’s going in the exact opposite direction, i.e. back towards Fiji, at force 4 to 5. My God, what am I doing out here? I’m here to row, not just sit around on my backside, but by now it’s starting to look that way.”

“Wednesday 21st May is going to be another one of those days. You know, a bit of moping around, loafing about, rummaging around here and there, looking around and taking in a bit of the ocean view, sticking my wet finger in the air again to gauge the wind direction, leafing through a few books as well as my only magazine for the tenth time. Oh well, the pictures on some of the pages still hold my interest (Michael, thanks for the Playboy)... a quick morsel to eat and drink in between and then back to hanging around the place, literally in every corner on the deck.

Damn, I miss my cigars! I deliberately didn’t bring any with me, thinking this would be a good opportunity to kick the habit, but when the weather’s playing up like this you do sometimes want to just lounge around with a cup of tea and a cigar in your hand every so often. Oh, how I miss those cigars. How stupid of me! I’ve been missing them since the very first spell of bad weather. I thought I’d get over it too, but no. At this speed I’ll have to make do without them for months yet.”