There She Blows S3 19 W095 18
Gryphon II
Chris and Lorraine Marchant
Sat 15 May 2010 02:34
|
We have just completed 300 miles of our 3,000 mile journey
since leaving the Galapagos and are at last sailing well in a solid Force 3
breeze. Yesterday we had very little wind and had to motor for 2 hours, partly
to relieve the boredom and partly to charge up the batteries. Normally our towed
generator produces all the power we need but if we are sailing slowly the
generator turns too slowly to keep up with the load.
However, we did see our first whale, actually to start
with we heard our first whale. We were both sat in the cockpit when there was a
loud whoosh and we turned around to see the broad back of what we believe was a
sperm whale. It came to the surface another 3 or 4 times before disappearing.
Apparently they can dive to over 3,000 feet so it is not surprising that we did
not see it again. It was about 50 feet long, certainly longer than the
boat, and had only one very small dorsal fin near the back. It looked like a
rock in the water and you could see the shape of the rest of its body just below
the surface by the lighter colour of the sea . A magnifient creature! It was as
close to the boat as we would want it to be as the spume can transmit a flu like
infection which we don't want.I have just finished reading an excellent book
called "Leviathan" all about whales, whaling and Moby Dick. Well recommended.
We also saw a ship that was less excitiing, just a big
container ship on its way to the Panama canal. More interestingly we
also saw a strange green light in the sky the first 2 nights. On the first night
it was well ahead, but on the second night I noticed it because it lit up the
cockpit. It was like a bright green parachute flare but came down much faster
and burnt out before it reached the sea surface. My first thought was that it
was a flare used by a nation's navy but there was no response to my VHF call. It
could just possibly have been a natural phenomenom like a meteorite, but it was
very bright green. Any suggestions as to the cause of my UFO greatly received.
Our companion birds are back with us at night, they fly all around the boat like
white ghosts grunting and rasping like rattles. We still don't know what they
are, they look like but are not gannets.
Everything is working well on board and we are in touch
daily with a number of other boats in front and behind us via the short wave
radio. It is good to hear other people and useful having weather reports from
boats ahead so that we know where to head for and what to expect. It would seem
that the boats ahead are properly into the Trades and logging good daily runs.
One friend of ours in a similar boat logged 188 miles yesterday when we managed
only 96. As we are now making consitently over 5 knots and sometimes up to 6.5
we should soon be improving our rate of progress. I hope so as it is a long way
to go yet!
|