A Whale Tale

18:02.841 S 163:11.565 W About They grow from 12 to 16 meters and this one is at least 12 meters and the young one about 4 metres. They have been with us for the last 4 ½ hours frolicking almost like dolphins, swimming alongside and diving under the boat. The depth sounder has registered as little as 3.3 meters. They swim as close as a metre from the boat and when the mother spouts from windward we get wet in the cockpit. We’ve tried unsuccessfully to photograph them, it’s too dark. Spreader lights aren’t enough for the cameras. There is no moon and there is a full cloud cover complete with light rain squalls. We just gibed, and I thought that might put them off but they are still with us. They are truly awesome and we feel very small, and also very lucky to have this experience. It’s only a pity it’s not in daylight. We are 25 miles South East of Palmerston and I will drop the pole in an hour or so and turn more North. I imagine they will leave us then. It’s been a beautiful escort. I’ve dropped the yankee and we are sailing with a deeply reefed main and a small amount of Staysail. The Whales are still with us, sometimes they scrape the hull, I hope she’s not feeling amorous. I went to bed at We joined three other yachts on the 6 available moorings. Our mooring has a very dodgy rope so Steve dove 11 metres with our pony bottle and attached our own rope to the mooring chain. Simon, our local host, brought the authorities to the boat to check us in. We are now 140 New Zealand Dollars lighter. There were 4 out of the total population of 54 aboard. We’ll be taken ashore later. __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 4346 (20090818) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 4346 (20090818) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com |