Dolphins

Seeing dolphins never gets old! Cruising in the Chesapeake, we would often see pods of dolphins. As soon as we went offshore, the number of dolphin sightings decreased dramatically. Then we cruised down the ICW and saw dolphins at least a few times per week! Once we left the ICW at Florida to head to the Bahamas, the dolphin sightings dwindled away to nothing. 

We had given up on seeing dolphins as they seemed to only be living in the intracoastal waters of the United States, and not out in the open waters where you would imagine them to be! We didn’t see any dolphins around Bermuda and we figured that our dolphin days were over.

This all changed when we got really far out to sea. Hundreds of miles from any landmass, we were descended upon by a massive pod of Spotted Atlantic Dolphins.

We were just sitting around in the cockpit waiting for the impressive sunset that would occur shortly when all of these dolphins began swimming and jumping around our boat. For so long, seeing dolphins was a treat for us, but it seemed that out here, seeing humans was a treat for them! 

How Calm Can The Ocean Be?

When you imagine the ocean, you probably think about endless waves that extend out and beyond the horizon. This may be the case on windy days, but the ocean can vary in surface topography just as much as dry land can. 

While out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, we were becalmed for four days in a row. By the second day, the ocean had calmed down and the true beauty of being out there unveiled itself. 

My favorite times during these days were definitely sunrise and sunset. The sun at low angles would create a multitude of colors around you. Any slight ripple would glow with golden hues and the ever-present Portuguese Man-O-Wars around us would illuminate on the water.  

Having an electric motor meant that we didn't move very far on these four days, but had we had a diesel, we would have missed the magic of the ocean as it would have been drowned out by the roar of burning fossil fuels. 

Corssing an ocean should not be something you do in a rush, but instead it should be an experience that you can cherish and remember for a lifetime. 

Ocean Sunsets

Out on the ocean, there is nothing obstructing the horizon. That means that you will have a perfect sunset every afternoon! 

Depending on different air qualities, such as air pressure, humidity, dust, air streams, and cloud cover, you will get a new and exciting sunset every time; best of all, each sunset will be unique.

We make a special effort to eat our dinner in the cockpit while out at sea on a blue water voyage just so that we can watch the sunset.  

There is something magical and magnificent about watching the colors in the sky change as the glowing spot on the horizon disappears beyond the horizon. As the sun fades away, the sky will burst into a painters palate of colors, and then the stars will begin to come out. 

Mars and Jupiter are usually the first of the night lights that come into view after the sun sets, and rather quickly as our eyes adjust, all the stars in the sky light up in a vast wonder above our yacht. 

I have spent many nights starring up at the mast head, watching its silhouette move among the stars. Laying in the cockpit looking up at the night sky as you sit alone on the surface of the ocean with no one else present in your visible disk of the Earth makes you feel just as alone as the invisible planets that orbit the infinite stars out there in the sky. It becomes easy to imagine that someone else might be sitting on their own craft on a distant planet, looking up at their night sky and visualizing our Galaxy as just another star in their own sky.  

Whales in Their Natural Environment

Whales live in the ocean, this is a simple fact that we all know, but do we truly understand it? 

whale watching tours will show you whales when they pass near our environment, the shore, where a short boat ride will bring our paths together. Whales migrate seasonally, and their routes near shore are well understood now. What about when they are not near our world, and instead we are the ones visiting theirs?

While in the absolute middle of the Atlantic, 1,500 nautical miles from the East Coast of the United States and 1,500 nautical miles from Portugal, we were visited by a whale. 

This Northern Bottlenose Whale came by our boat and swam with us for a few minutes. In this realm, we are the visitors in their world. We have left the shore and come into Whale Territory where whales want to come near us to see who is the new visitor in their waters. 

Seeing a whale out here is truely magical. They can see you from far underwater and choose to surface near you, especially the second and third times. This is performed on their terms and should be referred to as Human Watching for the whales. 

Portuguese Man-O-War

These "jelly fish" are both beautiful and terrifying.  Siphonophores Colonial Organism or Complex Organism

While they were thought of as jelly fish for some time, their exact classification has been under serious scrutiny lately. Due to their deep ocean living situation, studying their lifecycle has proven difficult, making it really hard to asses exactly what they are.  

Portuguese Man-O-War are named so not because they come from Portugal, but rather because they look like the Man-O-War tall ship that the Portuguese used back in the age of sail. The creature has tentacles like a jellyfish, but instead of a bell filled with fluids it has a balloon. Instead of undulating the bell for locomotion, it raises a sail to the wind. 

As if these creatures weren't interesting enough, their very classification as an organism has come into question. Portuguese Man-O-War are Siphonophores, but that is kind of the best we can do when it comes to classifying them. It turns out that the creature is more akin to a colony than a single organism. Each major part of the Man-O-War seems to be its own creature, capable of living on their own without the direct need of the other organisms. At the same time, each organism that makes up the "colony" is so highly specialized that it resembles tissues in different organs, making this a complex organism instead of a colony.   

Sadly, this creature is so confusing and interesting that scientists still don't fully know how to classify it. Should it be a colony made up of obligate mutualistic organisms or is it actually a complex organism made up of various organs, and not various organisms? It seems like a simple question to ask and answer, but the various parts of the Man-O-War exhibit both traits and therefore it continues to perplex scientists.