Bermuda to Azores – Day 13

Time: 06/02/2008 1200 UTC

Lat: 39 deg 19' N

Lon: 37 deg 27' W

Heading: 68 M

Speed: 5 kt

Wind: ENE 5-10 kt

Seas: 1-2 ft

Weather:  Sunny, 70 deg F.

 

Well, our progress slowed substantially as a cold front passed and the wind clocked out of the east.  Between a head-on breeze and a full knot of counter-current, our VMG (velocity made good – speed in the direction of your destination) was essentially zero through the night.

 

By mid-afternoon, the wind has come around out of the southeast, and we're pointing to Flores again on a starboard tack.  We've been getting lifted a fair amount, and the current is lifting us 10 degrees as well, so it's been a pleasant course of sail.

 

Around 1600, I heard Kelly exclaim, "Whale!"  My father responded, "There's no way you could see it from here."   I leapt up on the foredeck with Kelly scanning the horizon for another sighting, while my father thought us rubes.  He had heard Kelly say "land."  We cleared up the confusion, and my father was instantly on deck with us.

 

Sure enough, appearing a quarter-mile ahead to starboard, a plume of spray and the flash of a black tail – an orca, we were sure.  We were making six knots at the time.  The whale appeared to be doing 8 in the same direction, as with each surface she had increased the distance.

 

The next time she surfaced, she was in a dramatically different location, 60 degrees off the bow to port.  And she stayed surfaced, swimming at a relaxed pace on an intercept course.  We fell off a bit to approach her, and as we did it was clear – this was a different whale. 

 

We passed a juvenile loggerhead turtle on our way to admire this whale, an exciting event at another time.  It looked like we were going to sail right up to the whale.  And we did, within 100 feet.  It was about 30 feet long, a sperm whale.  Its blow was low, projecting forward every 10 or 20 seconds.  It eyed us suspiciously, then slowly, gracefully, descended into the azure depths.  I've never seen anything like it.

 

Later that afternoon, we saw dolphins feeding as we prepared our own dinner – steak fajitas with mango salsa.  It was a good day.