24:17.7N 019:48.3W

Sunday, 15 Jan 1200 UT

 

A quiet night – well we did have the engine on so that was noisy.  Let’s say that it was calm and uneventful.  In fact, with nothing on the radio or the AIS, it really is quiet.  The challenge of the night watch is to find something to do to keep alert.  Last night it was spotting jelly fish.  When it’s dark (really dark) before the moon comes up, the sea came alive with the glow of a million jelllies, rising from the abyss to do whatever they do at night.  Lucy has been speculating on the social life of jellies: how to reproduce with stinging each other?  In fact, all those tentacles could become a bit complicated in a nocturnal embrace.  And so on ...

This morning : DOLPHIN!  An enormous pod of bottle nose, well over a hundred, came bounding towards us and then performed their tricks for a while before heading off.  The sight of dolphin never ceases to delight and none of us has ever seen such a number together.  So big, big delight.  We read that the Cape Verde Islands are rich in cetacean life, so we are keeping a good whale watch but nothing to report so far.  I know that photos of dolphin tend to be disappointing but here it is anyway – you may be able to see that they are everywhere.

 

And here’s another photo from yesterday for those of you who like the pictures and can’t be bothered with the text – Lovesail “dressed overall” – in laundry.