LIGHT WINDS AND PLENTY OF RAIN

Hi Everyone,Welcome to day 44 of our voyage. Being a Sunday our guest Sail Master for the day Rowan decided to make it a modified Sunday Routine with us all still turning to for morning brief and cleaning stations then giving us a longer siesta in the afternoon.As expected the strong headwinds abated overnight but we have now been left with light and variable conditions and frequent rain squalls which thank goodness continue to cool things down. Most of the time these squalls bring strong gusts of wind which have kept the watches on their toes handing in upper sail and continually bracing the yards one way then all of a sudden having to brace them back the other.Following afternoon siesta the World Voyagers were introduced to the game of ‘Assassin’ which I have to say they thoroughly enjoyed or if not they used it as a good way to get out of the majority of the 1st Dog Watch (1600-1800), which may have been their ploy, but by the sounds of the laughter coming from midships they had a great time.Something what I forgot to do when we departed Mindelo due to my bout of illness was to thank the Australian Ambassador to Portugal Her Excellency Ms Anne Plunkett and Mr Christian Hermansson for visiting us in Mindelo and co-hosting a very successful reception onboard Young Endeavour on the Friday evening. The Ambassador and her staff provided us with some wonderful support throughout both our visits to the Cape Verde Islands and our short notice anchorage of Porto De Portimao in the south of Portugal and their efforts have been most appreciated. We are only sorry that we didn’t get a chance to visit them in Lisbon but hopefully that will happen next time Young Endeavour comes to Europe.At the moment we are located only 370nm to the north of the equator and have just been hit by another rain squall which has soaked the Watch on but they don’t seem to mind because it will cool them down and save them having another shower when they come off watch a little later this evening.Volunteering to write tonight’s Captains Log is Liv doing a solo so please enjoy! Until tomorrow, take careYours AyeCaptain GavAhoy there people of the world!Liv here, checking in from 6 degrees north of the equator in the sweltering heat and humidity.The Young Endeavour has made a few new friends today in the form of some more ocean birds. We started out with one hovering off the bow this morning with a keen eye for the flying fish and this evening we are surrounded by at least 6 ducking and weaving around. Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum, Tweedle Doo, Tweedle Daa, Tweedle Day, and Tweedle Night (provisional names only). We also had two contacts today in the form of other ships! The first we have seen in a while since leaving Mindelo.Sanitation and hygiene have been the topic of most of our morning meetings and everyone is on the mend. With most people now using the aft toilets (deemed ‘the safe toilets’) and even the people with seasickness are eating bread and have more colour in their faces.Today’s sail master of the day was Rowan, who chose to continue the Sunday Sea tradition we are now enjoying each week. Rowan and Caitlin also had today to run our 12 days of fun times and games. To start, we played a good old game of thumb wars and then each watch used a camera to race around the ship gathering the best and funniest photos of staff ‘doing stuff’. White watch decided to chop off Gav’s finger in the galley (not really) with help from Keely and Marcus, and other watches decided to dress some of the male staff in dresses and makeup, making for some pretty amazing model shots. They certainly will be able to add them to their modelling portfolios.Predominantly this afternoon has been occupied by a fairly heated game of Assassin. This is where half of the group is divided into the Mafia, the other half become the townsfolk and within those townsfolk there is the one Assassin. The crew were quick to point fingers at one another, make jokes about pointing fingers (Brad) and even vote people out for sneezing! Definitely not fair.Dinner was again amazing and later this evening has the possibility of another awesome movie night on deck. Weather permitting of course, and with storms and squalls off our Port side, who knows! We might be in for a fun night.Until next time! Liv signing off.Shoutouts:Adzie: Just wanted to say a quick hello to family, friends and work colleagues. I hope all is well. I’m having an amazing time, absolutely loving this life at sea thing. Just adding to Liv’s Log, It’s been an interesting last dog watch, rain storms are a coming, albatrosses are taking advantage of our boat scaring the flying fish out of the water, making for an interesting show. The staffies are getting haircuts and their eyebrows plucked and I’m addressing my OCD by pulling in the lines to remove the copious amounts of rotten cotton that has built up over the last week. Anyways, much love to you all xoxo Adz.Brittney (Rudy): Hey Mumma and Dadda! Feeling really homesick at the moment and wished I could just give you both a big cuddle. Its getting really hot in this tin can so lucky you deprived me of A/C growing up! Countdown for my birthday is still going strong and I think a few people are sick of it, but all well  Miss you loads! Already planning on what my first dinner back home will be… 3 months to go.. Love you forever! XxxTalbot: Hey dearest family and friends, maybe it’s the heat, maybe the post Mindelo-belly elation but thoughts have been drifting back to you all over the past few days. I am very happy watching the birds dart across the water in hot pursuit of flying fish – the dragonflies of the ocean. Looking forward to cooking up a feast for ya’ll from the port stops along the way. Hope you’re all enjoying your days, especially you European river cruisers.