A large squid (Cephalopoda) danced in the moonlight feeding and displaying incredible colour and shape. The two longer tentacles extending when prey was in reach. The sponges orange, red and blue magnified in colour under the high beam of the video lights. A common cowry found on many reefs around the world is the Cypraea tigris. It is a pearly white with chocolate brown spots. When it is moving along the bottom the foot undulates and the intricate pattern is visible. Magnificent blood red and approximately 12cm in length the Plurobranchus forskali is a side gilled slug from the class Gastropoda, this elegant slug glided along the sand much the same as a figure skater on ice. It was a really beautiful night dive.

Early this morning Joerg, James, Reimer, Diana, Lasse, James and Charlie headed ashore to visit one of the villages in the inlet, many refer to it as tail of the cows. Within the small village hundreds of children’s grinning faces filled the corner of each house peering around the corners to see what was going on. The village is home to around 2000 people, all of who spoke Swahili. Like many remote villages around the world the families are very much into sustainable living. The main means of living for the community are fishing and agriculture. Clove trees, after being introduced now play an important role in the local product market.

Cloves are the buds of a tree, which produces a tantalising smell and taste. At the height of the clove industry the islands off Tanzania where responsible for approximately 90% of the world's clove produce. All cloves are sold to the government, who buy at fixed rates. They then sell the cloves on the open market to the producers at higher rates. A problem that sometimes arises is the rates the local people are paid does not cover enough economic gain, the crop is unprofitable and often is then left on the trees. 75% of total cloves produced for the Zanzibar archipelago comes from Pemba. Sometimes if you are lucky you can watch and smell the cloves being dropped on the beach in Zanzibar where they are then taken to the distillery.

This afternoon we left Pemba saying goodbye to Tim and Charlie and made our way across the Pemba channel to mainland, Tanzania. After 4 hours we arrived in the small port of Tanga, it is the second largest seaport in the country. History of the port revolves around it being the starting point for trade caravans to the inland regions. In the 19th centaury Germans were primarily responsible for the development of the town in conjunction with a railway linking Moshi and Kilimanjaro with the coast. One of the major exports from the town is Sisal; Tanga port serves as the main export feed for the crop, used to make rope. The Germans introduced sisal and plantations now spread over much of the coast and inland towards the Usambara Mountains.

This evening the STARSHIP crew watched the sun set for the first time over mainland African soil. An incredible fireball of crimson light dropped inch by inch towards the distant hills. The sky ranging from pastel blue to peach extraordinarily contrasted by the black silhouette of the mainland. What a magnificent welcome to the shore of Tanzania. We are all looking forward to taking a little look around the town tomorrow.

See you then.

Lou