The weather forecast had predicted it, but the complete lack of wind for 2 days stresses everyone, despite knowing what is coming. The crew felt and looked lethargic, as the engine drones on for hour after hour, across an increasingly glassy sea. The Genoa is furled in, and we keep up the mainly to give the illusion of sailing, and somewhat to maintain some stability as it pushes against the little wind there is to stop some of the rolling.

At the watch change at 0200, Tammie had made the wish to see some whales off the transom and I had agreed while not holding out much hope as we motored towards Portugal.

The lethargy changed in an instant, when Tammie shouted "look, a fin" and we saw a small pod of Orcas circling about 100 yards away. Last time we saw the whales I regretted not turning around, but at that time we were flying the spinnaker and thus made the boat immovable without a ton of work, by which time they would be gone.

This time under motor and little wind, I immediately turned around and slowly approached the pod. So followed about 45 minutes of watching this pod of 4 or 5 Killer Whales at close quarters.

The really cool experience followed, as each whale turned and rose to the surface then dived again. The surprising thing for me is the sound made of these huge animals moving through the water and the expelling of air as they send up their spout. Being careful not to motor near them and follow the guidelines for drifting ahead of the pod, we managed to get some nice video clips of these majestic beasts ( which I will post later on Facebook). The largest orca was probably 25 to 30 feet with a fin that flopped around about 5 or 6 feet out of the water, slow but extremely powerful in its movements.

A terrible day for sailing, but an amazing experience with the Orcas, more than made up for it...