he sun rose to illuminate an ocean devoid of land. In all directions there was nothing but water – for 10 miles around and three miles down I was surrounded by dark blue sea, glistening with gold in the early morning sun. But I was not worried about being lost, because flying directly towards our boat was a set of two white terns, their angelic wings translucent in the sunlight and the big black patches around their eyes standing bold against snow-white feathers. Just seeing them told me two vital pieces of information. Firstly, we were heading towards land. Secondly, it was less than 20 nautical miles (nm) away. I knew this because terns sleep on shore and
