Our first sighting of land; the Three Knight islands which are north of Cape Reinga. The wind was blowing 18 knots on the beam and we had to keep reducing sail to keep our speed to 8 knots. At one point we were creaming along at 9.6 knots but this puts too much strain on the rigging so we pull back. Plus the tear in the headsail is exposed as the tape we so carefully applied in Noumea has blown off.
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| sperm whale (libray shot, not mine!) |
Yesterday David woke me with an urgent 'get up here now'. Where we in danger of hitting something? A fish on the line? Mast about to topple? No. We'd crossed paths with a pod of sperm whales. We stayed with them for five minutes – long enough to get the video camera and capture some footage because everyone knows if you don't photograph / video and event it wasn't worth it.
Other sightings on passage have been albatrosses and I spotted a tall black pectoral fin passing down our side. It wasn't moving fast, not big enough for an orca, too big for a dolphin and solitary and too floppy and not moving fast enough to be a shark. Our conclusion was a sunfish, or Mola Mola, one of those strange disc shaped fishes that surface swim for warmer water. My first sighting. What a shame not to see all of it on a dive.
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