larger marine mamals
Ocean Science's blog
Glenn Cooper
Fri 10 Oct 2014 11:18
We were joined by a pod of orcas this morning. Four big smooth black-and-white shapes arcing out of the water and sliding back in, plus one smaller one.
We are still motor sailing at around 7 knots through a mild Atlantic swell; and in bright and warm sunshine, although it was chilly last night.
No other vessels in sight. The last three we met were all on collision courses with us, but we are still here. The trickiest one was last night about 2.30. The AIS told us our closest approach would be a quarter of a mile, which is too close for comfort, and as we had right of way we waited to see if he would manoeuvre away. He did not, and by the time it was too late for him to do anything (these big lumps take a while to change course) we tacked and went behind him. It was all in the best possible taste. Another one a few hours later did change course for us, so it is nice to feel wanted by at least some members of the merchant fleet.