In the dark of the night before there was a moon, a pilot whale came calling. It was almost time to change shifts. I was reading, stopping every few pages to cast a look around. Phosphorescence gleamed now and then from something in the water, from the ship’s movement, and from the little breaking wavelets. A few stars twinkled amongst dark clouds above. Intent on my book, the first realisation that a whale had arrived was the smell that assaulted my nostrils. It came from upwind, and the garbage truck rank odor announced its presence before I even heard it blowing. Standing up and looking over the side brought a vision of a large black shape rising from the water beside the boat, the blowing sound and fragrance, then it slid beneath the waves again. Lars got up and I motioned him to come on deck, sure enough, the whale surfaced on his side of the boat! What a magical shift change hand off we shared. That whale stayed with us for almost 45 minutes, just cruising alongside our boat, occasionally diving under and appearing on the other side. These moments, so surreal and precious can’t be described adequately, nor photographed in the dark, but it is one of the most amazing things about crossing an ocean in a sailboat. We feel so fortunate to have experienced it together on our Sweet Dream!
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