Some good, but also rather uneventful, miles have slipped by over the last 24 hours. As you know by now, “uneventful” is actually one of the nicest words you can use when talking about life at sea.

That said, a little more wildlife would certainly be welcome. Apart from the occasional bird—which somehow never fails to amaze me out here—there isn’t much to see beyond this endless blue carpet stretching to every horizon.

Remember the ship I was so excited about last night? Well, it passed far too far away to even spot. Which, of course, is much better than it passing too close.

Still, this blue carpet never gets old. The sky is constantly changing, and there is always something beautiful to look at.

Life on board has been equally peaceful. We did a bit of homeschooling, baked something tasty, and otherwise perfecting the ancient maritime art of pottering about.

A few hours before writing this, we crossed over the Tongan Trench. After the Mariana Trench, it is the second deepest part of the Pacific. It’s fascinating to imagine what it would look like if, just for a moment, all the water disappeared and you could fly across it. Mountains more than 4,000 metres high rise along its edges, including features like Capricorn Seamount, while the ocean floor drops to well over 6,000 metres below the surface. It’s hard to wrap your head around the scale, the darkness, and the strange creatures living in that hidden world that look like designed by someone who combined all the craziest ideas.

We also crossed the International Date Line. For now, though, we’re stubbornly hanging on to staying one day behind to avoid confusing ourselves on board. We did change the clocks once again, however, because watching the sun rise at 7:45 felt just a little too much like a European winter – and nobody on board here sailed all the way for that. 

Not that we’re short of light. An almost full moon keeps the night remarkably bright, even with thin clouds draped across it like a delicate veil.

Let’s hope the next 24 hours are just as uneventful… although we certainly wouldn’t complain if the ocean decided to reward us with a fish.

We’ve crossed one of the deepest parts of the ocean—it seems only fair that at least one of its inhabitants comes up to say hello.