Sun and Wind 41:36N 22:34W
Millybrown
Mark Hillmann
Tue 16 Jun 2009 16:10
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We are rolling along on a run today: The
staysail boomed out, which sets the genoa peacefully behind the mainsail.
I was stood in the hatch eating breakfast this
morning when another dolphin visited. One or perhaps two, not the large
pods we had near the Azores but a little company.
The Atlantic is pretty empty otherwise.
Perhaps a ship or two show up each day on the AIS. With the good
visibility we have had you can see them several miles away, especially
at night. Showing at 12 or 15 miles often gives an hour's warning. I
close down the warning range on the AIS, reset the alarms and go back to
sleep at night, then get woken by the same ship 15 minutes later if it is
heading within a couple of miles. It is not quite the motorway at 70
mph.
The only birds are shearwaters which occasionally
come and visit. I would have said there was always one in sight somewhere,
but not today. A good breeze to keep them flying as
well.
The sky is solid blue and the when you look down
the sea is a pale clear blue as well. We have just crossed a
4,000m depth contour so it is not the bottom you can see. Empty water, not
like further north with birds all the time. Even in the Azores one of
the books comments that it is an expensive way to see birds you can
see elsewhere. Why do the Galapagos have lots of their own species
when the Azores have none?
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