Cetaceans

As we close in on the Azores, yachts crossing the Atlantic funnel towards the island of Faial and the harbour at Horta. It has become one of the four busiest yacht transit harbours in the world. Zooming out on the plotter I can see 13 vessels within AIS range homing in on the refuge and clearing in and berthing promises to be a challenge. Hopefully the ARC organisation will help smooth the process.

The warnings of a storm seem to have moderated to advice about a gale but we still press on to achieve a midday arrival, hopefully after the backlog of overnight arrivals have been processed. AWOL continues in our wake, keen to steer to our lights as their auto pilot is on the blink again. We have replenished their diesel stock by a further 60 litres, floated down to them in three cans and they now have the capacity to comfortably motor in.

I had been told that the trans-Atlantic passage to the Azores was not to be missed because the wildlife is spectacular. Well it was good advice as we have been blessed with sightings of many different cetaceans. It is in these circumstances that one would like to know more about the subject as there were clearly different species of dolphins that visited judging by their markings. All indicators suggest that the whales we saw were sperm whales. These are massive, up to 60 feet in length and weigh up to 50 tons. At this time of year they are likely to be the larger males. They dive to nearly 3000 metres for up to an hour feeding on squid and some fish then spend a period on the surface recovering and blow around five times a minute. We were lucky enough to see one dive when the tail comes out of the water and this was absolutely spectacular.

There are a number of indicators of getting older – going grey, hair falling out etc. Another indication became apparent today as I stood at the bow with my son Oliver, watching the dolphins. “listen to that” he said, “what?” I said, “the dolphins talking to each other” he said as though derrr, can’t you hear them. Well I couldn’t, it seems that their communication is outside of the audible range of the older man so that’s another faculty lost.

Ollie writes:-

Today’s been like one big trip to Sea World.

To kick off, Barry saw one of those underwater tortoises floating by.

And as if that wasn’t enough excitement for one day – we then saw three whales…three!

The second one surfaced only a boat’s length away, then did some serious spouting.

If the wind had been in the right direction, the vapour could’ve easily wafted over us.

But the piece de resistance was certainly the third one.

It was a little further away, but it stuck its tail a couple of metres above the surface before diving, so we were treated to a full view of its rear wingspan.

I’ve never seen whales before this trip, though admittedly, I have lied about seeing them.

You see, on a family holiday in the Caribbean when I was a kid, we once went deep sea fishing.

I remember all of a sudden people on the boat started shouting and pointing.

But the sea was rough, and I couldn’t make anything out.

“Did you see those whales Ol? They only surfaced for a few seconds.”

“Yes, I did!” – I lied.

I can recall being quietly frustrated that I hadn’t caught a glimpse of them, whilst having to maintain a veneer of exuberance because I’d said I had.

I’ve been living a lie for the ensuing fifteen years.

But happily after today, I can reveal the truth in the hope my friends and family will forgive my deception and accept me for who I really am.

To top it all off, we were also visited by at least four pods of dolphins, each of which indulged us with a show up at the bow.

As a special treat, I could even hear them talking to one another.

You know that squeaky buzz they do, a bit like when you try to squeeze out the very last of the Fairy Liquid.

Unfortunately neither of my commanding officers was able to hear it.

And I had to explain to them that it’s probably because they’re of retirement age.

Apparently as you get older the range of pitch you’re able to hear narrows considerably.

I tried to assuage their obvious disappointment by explaining to them just how much I would love a free bus pass.