I could spend many hours simply watching the sea.  Today, as we sail from Sri Lanka to the Maldives, a glassy smooth ocean lies outside our door and we both lean over the rail of our verandah and marvel at it.

Reminiscent of, or perhaps inspiration for, a lace edging on a dress or a tablecloth, the swirls of water beneath us form beautiful patterns in the water.  I take a few photos and remind myself to acclimatise my camera before I take photos such as these.  Here's hoping the same sea conditions occur again before too long.

As we stand gazing at the ocean, our stewardess Anabel and her colleague Widi come in to complete their daily chores and they smile when they find us transfixed by what is, for them, part of everyday life.

All of us were similarly horrified by the sight of a plastic bottle floating in an otherwise clear expanse of water.  Suddenly, we sailed through an area of debris: a few more plastic bottles, a slipper, a couple of pieces of rubbish.  Awful.

When we spotted a plank of wood (or was it a huge nail file?) floating past, the girls had seen enough and went back inside to continue their bedmaking and vacuuming, leaving us to watch the only wildlife we'd seen all day clamour around a piece of flotsam (or jetsam?)   If ever we needed encouragement to stop using plastic bottles, here it was, writ large.