Started the day with a couple of swallows flashing past the ship. This was followed by a meeting where it was decided to start pulling in the survey equipment- all of it! This will take approximately 48 hours and this is because of a forecast blow that is due to deliver 8-10 metre seas that as well as possibly wrecking the equipment could also be a tad dangerous for a ship this size. We need to be able to manoeuvre freely in such seas, without the drag of the cables behind the vessel. If the waves do become that significant I could be trying to sleep wedged in a corner somewhere as bunks are next to useless in such conditions. Anyway, forecasts have been wrong before, but we have to prepare for the worse case scenario. On a lighter note I saw another very nice loggerhead turtle late morning, and this afternoons' highlight was a flock of nine sandwich terns heading north. Strangely, as is often the case before a significant blow the gulls have literally vanished into thin air- I think they know what is coming!!
