Today’s big philosophical topic: birds.

Which is slightly surprising considering we are hundreds of kilometres from land, the sea is doing its best impression of „the Great Wave off Kanagawa“, and yet — somehow — there are birds. Pelagic birds that apparently spend almost their entire lives out here in the open ocean.

Which raises important questions. Like: do they ever sleep?

The particular bird that triggered this deep reflection definitely does — because it’s sleeping on the front of our boat. Which leads to my next question: is it the same freeloading bird from a few days ago?

As you might guess, we have a bit of time on our hands. Conditions are calm enough that we can mostly just hang around and… watch birds.

The wind and waves eased a little during the day, and if the forecast is to be trusted, things should continue calming down over the next 24 hours. Some waves still attempt to rip the bridgedeck off our hulls from time to time, but overall fewer objects are being launched across Akuna like projectiles.

The crew is still impressively chill and in good spirits. Management has politely been asked when we plan to arrive, but amazingly there have been zero complaints — neither about the situation nor the duration of the trip. Honestly, that might be the most impressive part of this voyage.

So we passed the time playing cards, listening to podcasts and stories, doing schoolwork, and generally floating across the ocean while contemplating bird behavior.

One undeniable highlight of the day was opening the next roll of Pringles Neli had left on the boat for us. Few things in life beat a couple of chippies after a long day sailing — especially when they magically appear from the snack stash.

Sure, slightly smaller waves would be more comfortable…

…but probably a lot less badass.