La Coruna (N. Spain) 43:24.00N 08:23.00W
Lotus
Wed 9 Sep 2009 15:47
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Set sail for La Rochelle on Sunday, it was a calm,
warm evening and the weather reports were good for the next few days so we
decided to skip La Rochelle and head off across Biscay to the northern tip of
Spain, 'La Coruna'. We had to motorsail for the first 100 miles or so as
there was only about 5knots of wind. The sea was flat and we had
small dolphins or perhaps porpoises (it was too dark to tell) playing at the
back of the boat, on and off all through the night. I was singing along to
my ipod and I think I've got myself a bit of a fan club. The dolphin
like creatures were with me for a good half an hour, leaping out of the water,
straining to hear my tuneful renditions before I scared them off
with a Lenny Kravits song.
Dawn broke and I was back on the helm struggling to
keep my eye's open (these 2 hour watches are a killer). The sea was mirror
calm as you can see from the pics below.
    Soon we had a whole pod of dolphins playing on our
bow. We must have taken a 100 photos and can you believe not one of
them looks anything like a dolphin, this is the best of a bad lot
 but, we did take a video clip and have
posted it on Youtube - check it out www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVQOdoKPumw
Later that morning we had more dolphins coming
at us from what seemed like all anlgles. They played on the bow until one
of them got smacked by the boat and then they all scarpered.
We then had half a dozen or so pilot whales passing
at the back of the boat. They're not as curious as dolphins but a
couple of them got close up. Alas my photo taking abilities came into their own
once again and I have lots of pictures of the sea - but no pilot
whale!
So after 3nights and two days at sea we arrived to
a cloudy La Coruna absolutely knackered. Fortunately as the morning passed
the sun came out and the sky is now bright blue. It's warm
but it's still not proper hot
yet!
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