There are good days at sea, and there are bad days at sea… and then there are days like Day 5. Nothing truly terrible happens, but somehow nothing feels comfortable either. Things just don’t flow.

One large rain system after the next kept building on the horizon (I deliberately won’t call them squalls — these clouds were huge, towering high into the sky). They brought constantly shifting winds and turned the sea state into something next-level annoying. A big swell rolled underneath us while wind chop from several directions threw the boat around.

At first we were at least sailing — making 7.5 to 8 knots — and at that speed it was almost bearable. But after about 30 minutes the wind died again and we were back on the engines, battling a relentless mix of hobby-horsing and jumping about.

This may have been the first moment Mark and I felt genuinely frustrated. Still no trade winds!?

At lunch I discovered that quite a few of the eggs I had bought were well past their prime. How did I discover this? I made scrambled eggs. They passed the float test and the smell test… but the taste test made it very clear they were destined to become fish food. Luckily I still have some fresh eggs from Isabela. But when I added yogurt to the guacamole I had been looking forward to all morning, only to discover that it too had gone bad, I briefly felt like crawling into bed and letting the day pass without me.

But one sturdy sailor will not be defeated by rotten dairy. Deep breath — carry on.

A few hours later, however, I stupidly dropped one of the earbuds from my beloved Apple AirPods falling down the steps in what seemed slowmotion only to disappear into the abyss of the South Pacific. I must admit, a quiet tear or two escaped.

The boat was still rocking and shaking, but after Nino had a rest on the trampoline we sat up in the bow with a cold drink. The boys and I wondered whether one day that missing AirPod might be discovered inside a shark’s stomach, baffling marine scientists.

Just then the day redeemed itself by sending us a beautiful pod of dolphins — easily the biggest I’ve ever seen. So big that at first we thought they might be pilot whales. A real treat for the soul.

Naturally, the day still had a few surprises left. The custard I made for the Wuchtln turned out more like pudding (edible, at least — and the Wuchtln themselves were excellent). Then, just before 1:00 a.m., a large wave found its way through a carelessly left-open side hatch and woke Uki and me.

Not the best timing when your watch starts at 2:00 a.m. and you end up cleaning the cabin instead of sleeping.

So here we are. The wind is still patchy and not steady enough for proper sailing. The sea remains messy, and a pile of washing is waiting for me.

I can laugh about it now, but there’s no point denying it: Day 5 was a bit of a shit show.

There are a couple of squalls lined up on the horizon now. Fingers crossed they’ll carry us through the most exhausting part — and that Day 5 will turn out to be the one bad day every crossing seems determined to include.