The spotting of wildlife is an art
Since we have hit the colder temperatures, we have been spotting more and more wildlife. This morning we saw a group of smaller dolphins, or porpoise (who dont live in groups, but one species does live in groups up to 20 animals) and then we had some storm petrels around, we saw a turtle just after lunch. But just before dinner it got really busy! Tim came down while I was making dinner and said there was an ‘Animal’! He quickly scrambled up the stairs again leaving me confused, so I called after him, A what? A WHALE! So I ran outside, someone said they saw their head and thought it was another spermwhale. In the distance you could still see some shape ‘bobbing’ in the water, which seemed strange.. As we were still under engine, I thought we should go and explore! We turned around, headed for the shape in the water… but it was not a whale.. of any kind.. Nor was it a turtle or even alive for that matter. Upon approach it turned out to be a floating boom of sorts, covered in barnacles and things that had been growing on it for a long time!
So we head North again. I go back to making vegetarian burger’s and potatoes, until Rebecca comes downstairs and shouts, Shark! So I run outside and low and behold, a big fin is sticking out, but not one of the mean looking ones. We take the throttle off and try to slow down to have a better and longer look. We try to turn towards the animal, but before we can make out anything else, it disappears into the deep.. It must have been a fair size animal, the fin was very visible, we just dont know what it belonged to. It looked very much like the shape of a Whale Shark vin, it seemed to be moving very lazily, not in a hurry, so it may have been.. But we will never know..
So it may seem like we have had a busy afternoon, but really we had a quiet afternoon, under engine. Knitting work was taken out, Toms beanie is finished and Maartje is progressing on her sleeve. The temperature has been nice during the day, 24 degrees Celsius, water temperature during the day was 20 degrees. Now, during the night the water temperature is 18 degrees, and the air is 16 degrees, so light downjackets are on!
We are still making our way towards the wind under engine. We expect the wind to increase during the night, so mizzen, forestaysail and jib have been set.. now we wait until there is enough wind for the mainsail.
All is well on board, Jet
