| Position : 34°39'.6 N and 23°53'.9 W Day / Time : 13.04.2013 , 05:55 UTC Mood : curious | We make excellent progress with a SW wind, at BF 7, and more than 9 kts over ground. and in the right direction. Gibraltar is only 863 nm away, and we head further north to pick up in two or three days from now the so called 'Portugal Trade Winds, a NE wind as a resultant of the Azores High (We will be at the NE corner of that pressure system ). But before that we have to cross the High, and that means a lot of motoring, as within the centre of a High there is no wind ! |
You need very good eyes to see the spout !
The other day when it was a calm sea we experienced a near miss with a whale, who just dived some 3 metres away on our port side.
Identification was impossible, we only saw the pectoral fins,
but from that the best guess is a sperm or humpback whale.
He ( sorry: or she ) has been either
sleeping,
breathing
or fishing
at the surface.
Probably the latter.
Because this is what we came across slightly later :
An ocean full of swimming bubbles !
Different in size, but basically the same shape, looked like little flying fish at first hand,
but turned out to be some kind of cocoon of soft jelly, and 'trapped ' inside we believe indeed
small flying fish babies.
So it must have been fish eggs floating on the surface of the ocean.
On closer looks,
it reminded me of Dim Sum filled with lobster or prawn or indeed fish.
Well folk, if there is a qualified marine biologist among my readers,
pls feel free to identify the
USO's
( Un-identified Swimming Objects ) .
Identification was impossible, we only saw the pectoral fins,
but from that the best guess is a sperm or humpback whale.
He ( sorry: or she ) has been either
sleeping,
breathing
or fishing
at the surface.
Probably the latter.
Because this is what we came across slightly later :
An ocean full of swimming bubbles !
Different in size, but basically the same shape, looked like little flying fish at first hand,
but turned out to be some kind of cocoon of soft jelly, and 'trapped ' inside we believe indeed
small flying fish babies.
So it must have been fish eggs floating on the surface of the ocean.
On closer looks,
it reminded me of Dim Sum filled with lobster or prawn or indeed fish.
Well folk, if there is a qualified marine biologist among my readers,
pls feel free to identify the
USO's
( Un-identified Swimming Objects ) .
Thousands like these swim on the surface.
| 
The jelly comes off instantly.
| 
Knock, knock, who's there ?
|
We picked one up. and put it in a bucket of water.
Mainly purple in colour, jelly on the outside that got easily off , but difficult to see the shape, but
it looked like a small Flying Fish, with the top fin like a sail.
Beyond that, no further news.
Yours, Master Mike.
Mainly purple in colour, jelly on the outside that got easily off , but difficult to see the shape, but
it looked like a small Flying Fish, with the top fin like a sail.
Beyond that, no further news.
Yours, Master Mike.
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