Dolphins

16 July 2025

Dolphins

Since our departure from the Azores, the journey—after a rough start—has been entirely under sail. This voyage is turning out to be one of the most remarkable in terms of wildlife. Almost every day, something spectacular happens. In the week following our departure from Horta, we spotted whales every single day. A few of the larger ones even seemed to circle around us for hours. One morning, just after sunrise, a massive Fin whale surfaced right beneath the bow!

Dolphins have also become daily visitors. Sometimes they stay and play in the bow wave for an hour; other times, they just come by to briefly say hello. Today, we were visited by a pod of dolphins with an unusually high number of young. It was a beautiful sight—watching them learn to leap alongside their mothers.

Still relatively close to the Azores, we also saw many Portuguese Man o’ War (Physalia physalis). These fascinating creatures may appear to be a single organism, but in fact, they are colonies of specialized organisms that live and drift together as one.

Today, we’ve left the deep waters of the Atlantic Ocean behind and are now sailing over the shallower continental shelf. England is slowly but surely coming into view. Tonight, we continue sailing on a broad reach, hopefully keeping the mainsail up for as long as possible, with the wind still at our backs.