On the sixth day, Captain Randy announces that we will trawl until dusk, and then head for home. Barry and I continue monitoring from the catwalk.
We've seen four species of albatross (shy, black-browed, Indian and Atlantic yellow-nosed), 11 species of petrel (white-chinned, spectacled, and flesh-footed petrels, sooty, Manx, Cory's and great shearwaters, European and Wilson's storm petrels, southern and northern giant petrels), four species of skua (pomarine, parasitic, long-tailed and subantarctic), plus Sabine's gulls, terns and Cape gannets.
I had a distant glimpse of what I thought was a northern royal albatross, one of the 'biggies', but it never came close enough to make out for sure.
As dusk falls, the crew get excited as the last net is hawled, and we turn for home. It is difficult to sleep with all the noise on board, as the crew set about thoroughly cleaning the boat and stowing everything away. The chief engineer pokes his head around the door at 2 am, and as I'm still awake, tells me we have rounded Cape Point.
I emerge on deck to watch the lights of Cape Town get closer. Table Mountain is dimly lit in moonlight. Chief then gives me a guided tour of his pride and joy, the 16-cylinder, 1,500 horsepower diesel engine that has taken as so far. The engine room is huge, a mass of machinery, hot, oily and very, very noisy.
We finally dock at 4 am, and emerge onto dry land for the first time in a week. Funny, but everything is swaying, and I can hardly keep my feet!