Finally, in the 11th hour, we got diplomatic clearance to drill in the territorial waters of Mozambique.  In fact, anyone who has been following our somewhat zigzagged path across the ocean might have noticed we had already started south again towards the Cape site.  After nearly half a day of steaming south, we joyously turned north.  Seriously, I was in the middle of a live broadcast with a group from the University of Malta when the announcement was made, and you could hear the whooping cheers of the scientists from the other side of the water-tight doors.

With our northward progress comes tropical weather again (as of this writing we are just past 25 degrees south latitude – less than 1.5 degrees from the Tropic of Capricorn).  What better way to enjoy the good news and the good weather than with an outdoor BBQ!  The galley staff truly outdid themselves – it was a gastronomic extravaganza!  Though apparently this is normally a regular Saturday event, it’s just that it has taken us five Saturdays to have such nice weather.  So I get to look forward to it again next Saturday – most excellent!  Oh, and yesterday I saw dolphins (sorry, no photographic proof).  Life just doesn’t get much better than this!