37°47.9’N 33°9.7’W
SOG (Speed over Ground): 6.6 knots (motoring)
Heading: 075
Distance to Horta: 219nm
Distance from Bermuda: 1,577nm
ETA (Horta): 6pm Saturday May 31
Ship time has now been changed to UTC so we can align our minds (and stomachs) to landfall. Using this new reference my watch last night was from 1am to 3am. Bob, who preceeded me wanted to shut off all the ships lights so he could see the phosphorescence better. Not that I could see any. It seems it stopped right at the beginning of my shift. He said it had been brilliant for his entire two hour shift. I wasn’t let down as 5 minutes into my shift we were escorted by yet another pod of dolphins. Each one generated a shimmer of phosphorescence around it’s body. They looked like ghosts. When they jumped out of the water for air, their landing would create an extra splash of light. Cool. For the rest of my watch I got rained on and saw a freighter which passed 4nm away. It was very overcast and hence the darkest watch I have had. By the end of my shift the wind was behind us and practically the same speed as we were motoring through the water. This led to a very strange sensation of feeling at stand-still with barely a breeze on my face. Despite the early hours, it felt quite warm.
This morning I was woken by thumping on my cabin roof. We were minutes from dawn. While the skies overhead were still cloudy, the horizon was clear. Every shade of red and orange was already visible. I made it on deck before the sun rose. When it did, it appeared as a brilliant point of orange-red on the horizon. Renewal. Another day had dawned but in the most spectacular way possible. The gap between horizon and cloud was barely the apparent width of sun so it was not long before we were back to gray skies and drizzle.
The wind has dropped to practically nothing and the sea is pretty flat. Again more dolphins this morning (beginning to sound old already). This mornings show was notable for a couple of reasons. One: this was probably the largest pod we have seen ? somewhere between 25 and 30 individuals. Two: the sea being so clear allowed us to see the dolphins very clearly beneath the surface, something we’ve not been able to do before.
Timing for tomorrows landfall is perfect. At dawn we’ll be somewhere between 60 and 80 nm from land. With Pico being a 2.3km high volcano being a spitting distance from Horta this may be the first thing we see. I’m sure all eyes will be on the horizon.
… 10 mins later …
I’ve just been interrupted by yet another dolphin show. This one you need to picture. Imagine a flat sea with the boat motoring along and six and a half knots. Now imagine five or six separate groups of dolphins at various points and distances around the boat all doing their thing. Then imagine most, but not all, of these groups coming over to investigate the boat and spend their few minutes dancing at the bow. No ? I am not yet tired of these shows in any way.