Even in the dark when a marine mammal surfaces next to the boat you can recognize it by its breath. A whale has a long exhale that smells like the bottom of the ocean. Dolphins make a short pfet exhale followed by a slash while seals are just a phet. We have not seen many marine mammals on this trip. Dolphins on the horizon and the sea lions lounging on Galapagos park benches . Having grown up before school field trips included whale watching, marine mammals make me smile.

The day started at 4 AM with very clear orders on the navigation station whiteboard: “Squid left in the fridge for more than 24 hours will be returned to their owners.” Karl had found my squid stash in the fridge in the middle of the night and was not pleased. I was hoping they might help solve the flying squid riddle. Yesterday I sent a simple text to a good friend asking “How do squid fly” This morning she amazingly summarized a Scientific American Article in 5 short messages. No graphics but enough information to pass onto the other sailors in our little fleet. Squid fly up to 3 meters above the water and travel up to 10 m. They hunt in packs in the near surface at night jetting water out of their bodies to get airborne with tail fins for wings, arms for lift and tentacles for brakes. The other American boat has offered to try and catch them and train them. The German boat is using squid for bait to catch mahimahi.

I decided I was done with squid and settled into a day of reading and working through my passage to do list. After sandwiches on the fresh bread for lunch it was time to take a nap. Except Karl spotted a field of bushy spouts. From a distance you can tell the different whales by the shape of their spouts but the book is down below. We count 20. Karl hand steers to keep us from hitting a whale. The whales pick up their heads and reveal the very square head of sperm whales. These whales are resting at the surface before they dive again to depths of about 3 km (9000ft) to hunt giant squid. Not then calamari sized squid we find on the deck but squid the length of the Mabel Rose. Their square head has a special organ that they use to echo-locate (use sound to find) their squid prey. Sorry I really thought I was done with squid. The ones that are closest are just resting horizontally along like large logs atop the water. No nap for me.

Tea time was next but that was interrupted by the arrival of beautiful yellow and blue mahi mahi who took the squid bait. I have been forgiven for hoarding squid in the freezer. Like the first reef back in the Atlantic if we are going to fish more we need to work on our coordination. Slowing the boat, reeling in the fish and scooping it up in the net is a lot to do. The fish did not get away but it could have.

As if the day was not full enough sunset brought one of the largest pods of dolphins we have seen. It started with a couple of spotted dolphins along the edge of the boat then it was like we were an ice cream truck at a park on a hot summers day. Dolphins were coming towards us from all sides. Another nap happily lost to marine mammals.