38 30N 21 32W
Osprey
John Bowering
Tue 16 Jun 2009 18:42
Having taken afternoon tea on the Terrace, Charles was still up there reading his book with John below decks when in his peripherary vision he caught a grey movement. He quickly realised it was a whale about 100m off the starboard bow, John joined him on deck and it was quickly appreciated that we were in the middle of a pod. Unfortunately, none were close enough to see clearly but 3 whales, all blowing, were clearly identified and the original one Charles saw was close enough to see the ridge on its back as it dived
So Kuki having spent the entire passage from Antigua desperate to see Whales and Dolphins, misses out by having jumped ship on a mammalian extravaganza! The beauty of these animals is indescribable, and the attempts to capture them in photos fails to do them any justice.
Life aboard Osprey continues in a sedate manner, we still continue to motor sail averaging 5.6 knots and have covered over 300 miles leaving approx 800 to go. Unfortunately, we are still to gain the expected winds - and John has just downloaded an updated weather map which shows they have disappeared. But the wind has been slowly strenghtening and we are hopeful that "Big Blue" will be deployed tomorrow.
The Osprey library is being well utilised, with both John & Charles on their 3rd book of the voyage. Luckily the book exchange at Mid Atlantic Yacht Services, Horta, provided 8 books, so these should keep us going.
As the sea was relatively calm this morning it was decided to transfer the spare fuel we are carrying on deck to the starboard tank. This was somewhat trickier than on the previous leg, as there has been a good 10-15 foot swell running since we left Horta. Anyway, with a bit of clever teamwork only a minimal quantity of diesel was spilt.
So as another dusk draws in, and the crew put ever more warm clothes on Osprey continues to head for Morocco.