Day 9 – over halfway!
The last 24 hours have been quite fresh, up to 25 knots at times but usually around the 19-20 mark, and we havnt touched a sheet or sail for 36 hours. We enjoyed our halfway curry but baulked at Christmas pud – we are going to save that for the 3/4 mark!
The ocean is far from empty . On reflection our long tailed visitor was a tropic bird , and we see quite a lot of Petrels ( I call them Stormy Petrels but the books say there are loads of different kinds). Flying fish abound and it is endless fun watching them surf the waves . I know they dont really surf as they are flying ,but they use the waves in just the same way a surfer would , banking and racing off diagonally down in front of it. Whilst studying this I was startled by a hooked fin snorting past at speed only a boat length away. 20 mts later it happened again but even closer , and whatever it was was big , fast and gave the impression of tremendous power. With the fresh winds of late the waves bank up astern of us , towering above us before racing harmlessly beneath our lifting stern. Lynda suddenly gave an excited , rather incoherant cry and pointed astern . There , above us in the wave was a large dark mass that set off down the slope towards us , rolling onto his back before passing white belly to white belly along Festinas starboard side. We are pretty used to this and its fun when the dolphins play in this way , but this guy was 8 metres long if he was an inch and seemed intent on checking out the local talent. We were torn between turning on the engine ( no self respecting whale would fancy anyone making a noise like that) and wanting to see more , but in the event Festina must have discouraged his attentions as we saw no more of him. Mind you , what they get up to in the night is anyones guess!
I think he was a big long finned pilot whale or possibly a false killer whale, the latter being known to be the biggest cetaceon that regularly indulges in bow wave riding.
So , at local noon (UT -2 , tho we will change to UT – 3 this afternoon) our position is 14 51 N 44 11 W . All well and love from the Festinas.