Well conditions have improved quite a bit. After another brutal night, with driving rain and lightning, we are now sailing along at 3.5 knots under a starry sky with a light breeze pushing us across the Bay of Bengal. Yesterday was actually quite pleasant, we had 2 games of Scrabble and had the spinnaker poled out averaging 6 knots. I had some avocados that needed eating so I made guacamole and we soaked up the sun as we munched and sipped our Diet Cokes, life doesn't get too much better than that. They were right, there was wind after the Nicobar Islands, it is just a little light as last night we sailed very slowly, Barry made 4nm in his 4 hour shift, brutal. We contemplated motoring but decided that we needed to conserve fuel as we had used a lot in the first 3 days. We now have 535 miles left to go, so we are about half way, we should arrive in Sri Lanka next Monday or Tuesday. 
I was reading about the country and there are old British tea plantations up in the hills and I hope we can take a tour and stay a night or two up in the hills. I am looking forward to learning about how to grow tea and sampling some. From what I can gather you don't cruise much around Sri Lanka, just stay in the harbour at Galle and travel about. Apparently there are a lot of persistent touts (or people trying to get you to buy stuff) so I will have to harden my heart and practise saying no in a polite way. Hope all is well with everyone and can someone please let me know who won the Scott Tournament of Hearts, I am guessing either Jennifer Jones or Kelly Scott, the long shot would be Heather Nedowin(the internet connection sucks out here!!!)

The other day a huge event happened on the boat, BARRY CAUGHT A FISH! We are not very good fishermen so when this happens it is a huge deal. He had something on the line and it broke the line and took his hook and then a little while later he got another bite and managed to reel it in. His fishing rod leaves something to be desired, he picked it up outside a dumpster (I guess this is where you get it from Trish) and it has seen better days. While this fish seemed to be pretty big, he was having a tough time reeling it in. He decided in the best Barry fashion to just drag it along behind the boat for awhile. We were zipping along at about 4 or 5 knots so this fish was getting a workout. He used his watch and dragged it for over half an hour, much to my impatience, and then gradually wound it in. When the fish was about 10 meters from the boat the reel broke and he had to haul it in the rest of the way by hand. The stupid fish had managed to wind the line around his tail so when he was being brought in I think Barry was basically pulling him sideways, no wonder he felt so big. It was about a 7 or 8 pound bonito, not the greatest eating fish so Barry made a lovely fish soup with a tomato base, very tasty and a nice change. I hope this was the start of a trend.