Day 33 – Dead Calm & Dolphins

2 Apr, 07 – 21.30    
17.5642N,33.1068W
24 hr progress: 17.3 Nautical Miles

Another super duper day. Clear sky, very calm sea with a light NE breeze.
Hit the double jackpot last night, falling below the 18th parallel (17.56N) and crossing into the 33rd Meridian (33.10). However, a bit sluggish on the daily mileage, without the rudder, but I've made up for the mileage lost over the previous days and we are back in black ink again.
Here in the tropics, the afternoons are too hot to do anything constructive. Today felt hotter than usual with very little breeze. Just as I was about to take a break and get some sleep, a pod of dolphins stopped by. Quite a sociable lot, they came right up to the boat, playing around the bow, the fender that I had put into the water, chasing the fish underneath, making their whistling noises and just showing off.
They were not scared away when I got into the water (even though I've not had a shower for a month!) and I felt privileged that they allowed me to swim with them in the wild, film them an just be a bystander and trusting me enough to come right up and play around with the fluorescent float on the video camera. They stayed for a couple of hours and were even there as I was having my coffee on the deck at sunset. Superstition says that are a good omen. In any case, they definitely lifted my spirits.
Everytime people ask me WHY? Why cross the Atlantic in a rowing boat, just 2 ft above water? How I wish I could point to days like this and say “That's why!”
It's impossible to do justice to the dolphins by just posting the photos here. They are the most magnificent and human-like creatures. Once on shore, I will upload the video.
This has been one of the most memorable moments of this trip. All of a sudden, all the hardships faced on land seem a small price to pay for an experience like today's.
In a dramatic drop in the level of entertainment, in the evening, I happened to make brief contact over VHF with the Russian crew of a tanker heading for Capetown. I was quite surprised to see the tanker, as I wasn't expecting to cross the NY – Capetown shipping lane till 35 West.
Despite the mismatch of languages in the ensuing conversation, I was able to establish that the signature of the boat on their radar screen was too weak to be visible, although we had both established visual ID of each others hull and I was 3 miles off their port.
Fortunately, the NY – Capetown lane is not a busy one so I'll count on establishing early contact on the VHF and hold fire on trying to raise the radar reflector.
I've got my hands full at present with fixing the steering.
B
To send a SMS message to my satellite phone visit http://www.bhavik.com/crossatlantic/messages.asp
Or email me at mail@bhavik.com (I will only be checking my messages when I reach shore).

Dolphins next to the boat

Dolphins playing off the bow

Sunset with dolphins