Thar she Blows!
We have the book Moby Dick on board and some of our expedition crew have tried to read it, and few have actually succeeded in finishing it (well done Luke on our last leg!), but there is something about the whale that captures our imagination. And today we got a small sample of why!
Two Sperm Whales were spotted just of the portside bow. They seemed to be making their way Eastward, crossing our course. At first we just saw some spouts, not sure what kind of whale we were looking at, as we could not clearly see any fin, or say that they did not have a fin, because there were just too many waves. We could see them in the distance for about 15 minutes and then they seemed too far of to really see any more. So everybody went about their business, I just got off watch and went down below. Then all of a sudden a loud shout and giggles on the aft, Sam called in, Jet come quick, they are next to us!
So I ran outside and could just see the water disturbance not 50 meters away. Soon they made their way to about 100 meters away from us. We must have looked like a weird massive fish looking hull, that floats and bobs around on the ocean with a very low speed.. And then we saw their heads sticking out of a waves, like they were sort if riding the wave (similar to Pilot whales) and we could clearly see their square head and small fin or rather backbone with ripples. What a sight! We all stayed out on deck for at least another half hour as they made their way along side us. So beautiful! So impressive!
Other than that, we have had a quiet day. Sailing with a big swell from the North and a small breeze from the North North East. Sometimes we were doing 3 or 4 knots and other moments we were humming along with 6 knots. Big jib in front and steering North West. But the wind had died out. The barometer has risen to 1027, so we have a high pressure area to get through.
The days have grown colder, which means our duvets have come out! Wool from Terschelling! And slowely all the ventilators have been turned off. Hardly any flip flops on deck any more, instead there are boots, long pants and jackets all around! And nobody minds, its a nice change from the tropics.. lets see how we go as we get more northerly!
All is well on board, Jet
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Ooooooooooh…
Sperm Whales!
What a treat!!