Today's noon position is 36 deg 55" N - 28 deg 13" W. This puts us 114 nm south of our waypoint at Terceira. We are motoring in 3-4 knots of breeze at 6.25 knots. This speed allows for an 8:00 AM arrival tomorrow morning Friday the 4th of May. The weather has suddenly changed back to shorts and t-shirts, which bodes well for our stay in the Azores.
As we progressed north we are seeing more & more sea life, which had been absent for most of the trip. A couple of days ago we encountered a pod of what I believe were pilot whales, but may have been Orca's. They sounded before we got very close. Schools of Dolphin have become regular visitors the last few days. We have been seeing lots of a type of jellyfish that floats at the surface with a pink "sail" up in the breeze. Today when Ni stopped the boat for a picture we saw that the water was full of hundreds of various forms and sizes of jellyfish. Not very inviting for a swim.
Ni has yet to hook another fish in spite of dragging a lure the last 2000 nm.
Had a scary encounter this PM. We passed a telephone pole sized pole or piling floating on the surface. It was entirely covered with barnacles and had it's own little eco system along with it. It would be impossible to see at night and a real disaster if hit.
A few miles later we were approached by as many as six good size whales. So we stopped the boat and started shooting picture. Babalu shot 14 while Ni's neat little digital camera shot 354. Hopefully he got one good one.
With that cheery thought, we are all looking forward to a few days ashore, hot showers, restaurant food, and full nights sleep.
Regards;
Ray & rest of Finalmente crew
/EX