Dolphins "13:51.55N 37:27.69W"
VulcanSpirit
Richard & Alison Brunstrom
Mon 6 Dec 2010 10:17
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We're making slow but steady progress westwards in
Trade Winds at long last. Unhappily they are still not as strong as they should
be, but at least they're there. Winds picked up in the early morning, leading to
the crew being roused from their beds for a sail change at dawn. We are now
going more or less downwind under twin headsail, one each side.
Yesterday we were visited by a large pod of Rough
Toothed Dolphins Steno bredanensis. According to the book this is an
animal "rarely seen and poorly known". they stayed with us for ages
playing in our feeble bow-wave and displaying. This species is quite large,
bigger than a man, and easy to identify because of the pink patches on its
tummy. One individual was clearly very proud of his(?) pink bits because he was
continually jumping right out of the water just in front of the boat, turning on
his side to make a huge splash on re-entry and displaying a lovely pink patch. I
don't suppose that it's a very interesting life being a (clever) dolphin in
an entirely featureless ocean, so messing about with the rare passing boat might
be the highlight of their day. Tom's picture shows how close they are - if you
were very brave you could dangle your toes in the water and touch them - but
what if they bite??
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