Last week was the first in our milebuilding passages on our route north from Lanzarote to Bodo in northern Norway.
The best way to describe the trip is with quotes from our guest book
‘what a brilliant passage voyage. Sun shining every day, full moon and stars to brighten our two nights at sea and fantastic sailing from start to finish. The marine life really sp0iled us, especially the close sightings of whales.’
‘Fantastic trip – whales, dolphins, turtles. Great winds, We learned a lot and were very well looked after.’
Great weather and sailing on my first passage – memorable moments: Whale spotting at 10 metres, yummy food, caring hosts.’
This really was a great trip between Lanzarote and Madeira, with fair wind and sunshine allowing us to also spend a night in Puerto Calero, a night at anchor in Baia de Abra and another night in Porto Santo. It was also a privilege to have such a close up view of nature. Approaching Puerto Calero on our first day we saw about 15 whales feeding in the bay – there were whale spouts everywhere as well as dolphins and birds after the fish. The expert in Puerto Calero let us know that they were Brydes whales and they had been in the bay feeding from 0900 until 1800! Locals were gathered on the breakwater with binoculars to watch the whales whilst we had the privelege of sailing amongst them.
We thought we would not be able to better that but as we approached Madeira there was a whoosh of air and a whale surfaced within 10m of the bow of the boat. Turned out there was not one but two of them, and they each surfaced another 3 times, showing us all of their backs, their fins and their white bellies. After a long look in the whale book we reckon that they were Fin Whales – the second largest living mammal, WOW.
We somehow seem to be on the migration path and hope to see more as we continue our route north next week from Madeira to the Azores.