Song of The Whale Diary-4th - 9th June 2006

Having reached international waters several days ago, we have been towing our hydrophone equipment to collect acoustic recordings of animals. At present, our position is 45o 09.17 N 47o 27.53 W. We are slowly moving away from the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and heading north towards the Flemish Cap.

During the last 24 hours, the wind increased to a speed of 25 knots (force 5-6) on average. It was blowing from a northerly direction and it rained hard. Life became a little uncomfortable on board but only for a short while. A tasty supply of veggieburgers and chips maintained a high moral and strength all around and was a perfect distraction from our increasingly wet feet inside leaky wellies!

So far we have encountered only one other boat: a ship which appeared one night on the radar. Faint navigation lights popped up on the horizon, quickly revealing a great big tanker and within minutes it had disappeared again. However we’ve been lucky to have far more interesting company – a number of common dolphins joined us to bowride for a short while, whilst white-sided dolphins, sperm whale, minke whale and some pilot whales have been spotted nearby. Shearwaters and storm petrels (the smallest of oceanic seabirds) are more of a constant feature. Recently, skuas and fulmars have joined us.

At present the weather conditions are pleasant – blue skies and a warm sun, making visibility excellent. But the wind has dropped (to 9 knots, force 3) and so our pace is a little slower whilst under sail. Our progress is good and hopefully there’ll be more and maybe new marine visitors joining us for parts of our passage as we travel northwards in the Atlantic towards Iceland.