What a difference a day makes
Cat-man-do
Mon 10 Dec 2007 01:22
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After a fairly long night to be honest, the day
dawned bright and sunny (hurrah) It's amazing how the mood changed on the boat.
All the "soggy" clothing i.e.: most of it was got out and hung up all around the
lifelines, making the boat look something akin to my grannies back yard from
years ago (yes, we have "yards" up North, for the benefit of the Rebel
lads) We were all back to shorts and all was well with the world. We even
got the "Hot Dog" out of it's locker and hoisted it. Real downwind sailing for
the first time in days. A couple of times earlier in the day when looking back,
dark shapes were seen swimming in the swell as it came up behind us. Shortly
afterwards we were joined by a few dolphins, the first in nearly two weeks, a
nice way to lift the spirits. It was just a starter to the main course though!
The dolphins left and we continued on our way.
A little while later the dark shapes appeared again
in the swell, just under the surface. This time however to be greeted by lots of
shouting and pointing one came to the surface for air. Not Dolphins but whales
!!
Of course everyone's now stood on the back of the
boat trying to catch a glimpse of them. There appeared to be at least one
pair, following the boat and breaking the surface to come up for air
occasionally. They were about 9 or 10 metres long and stayed with us for
about 2 hours. Occasionally swimming alongside the boat within about 30
feet. The water being so clear you could clearly see the full length and shape
of them with their white lower fins. They kept pace with the boat easily and
occasionally would swim off ahead or underneath the boat. They were surprisingly
fast and seemed to swim at these speeds without looking like they were trying to
move at all. We believe we've identified them as Minke Whales as they are the
only ones that seem to satisfy all the criteria from our "I spy whales" book (or
something like that)
They were an awesome sight and one that will
probably stay with me and the rest of the lads for a very
long time.
Another sight for the lads later in the
day, whilst not having as much "wow!" factor had them suitably entertained
non the less. You'll have read in our earlier blogs about my preference for
the bucket of sea water over the head method of "showering" (if you
haven't go back immediately, and start again)
I decided as the weather was decent I'd head up
front and have a good old dousing. When there I (cover your eyes ladies)
stripped off and proceeded to empty buckets full of water over myself.
Next, out came the shower gel for a good old lathering up, and yes Mum, I did do
behind my ears!
Having rinsed all this off I sat on the deck, still
naked, enjoying the warm sun for a few moments. At this point a mischievous wave
came up under the boat and it heeled over somewhat. Unfortunately, there was
obviously still some soap on the deck which had made it a little slippy.
Arms flailing in the air, I gracefully slid across
the deck still naked, towards the guard rails. I am thankful at this point for
two things.
1) The rails were there to stop me sliding off and
into the ocean
2) Cat Man Do has a nice smooth deck, so no lasting
damage was done to my erm......delicate rear!
I sat there a moment listening to the howls of
laughter coming from the cabin where they had seen me gracefully slide past the
windows..
The things I do to keep the crew
entertained.
Sleep well.
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