46:29.11N 15:18.80W

 

Last night was very dark, complete cloud cover.  This made for a fantastic display of phosphorescence from the waves, the boat, the dolphins and the whales.  The breaking waves were bright enough to cast shadows, the dolphins looked like torpedoes whizzing around and the whales like underwater alien space ships.  Surreal.

 

The wind did not do as we expected, we were prepared for a day of calms.  At dawn the wind was getting too light to hold the sails in position and we started what we expected to be a day of sails banging back and forth, however within an hour or two the wind had steadied to a 12 knot north westerly and we were off down our track.  The wind has remained similar all day.  It is getting cold, we still have complete cloud cover and so tonight will see the return of the thermal under layer.

 

We are seeing a great many whales, many more than either of us has ever seen.  One came alongside and looked at us, its eye no more than 3 metres from ours.  Its body was longer than Gertha.  Because the water depth is over three miles we have turned off the depth sounder, this means we are not transmitting sound pulses through the water, we wonder if this is why the whales are not hiding from us?