AT SEA

Today, we’ve been at sea again, heading towards our next port-of-call, Quayaquil, in Ecuador.

In the morning, just after breakfast, we stood on the back deck watching the waves, and saw several dolphins. I have a theory that the area we were looking at is a bit of a sweet-spot for dolphins, mostly due to the bow wave, which seems to be at an optimum height and speed. A dolphin could be seen, initially, cruising along just beneath the surface, at the same speed as the ship. When it came into contact with the bow wave, it would seem to revel in its rolling motion, at first surfing, within the body of the wave, then jumping out, clearing the wave completely before sliding back down beneath the surface of the sea. It’s just a theory, of course, but it seemed significant that the three dolphins I saw repeated more or less the same action, all within the same space, quite close to the ship.

It’s been a working day for me; in the classes this afternoon, I had them painting a waterfall, using a negative painting technique. Numbers were down slightly; I suspect this is partly due to the fact that a large number of people have left the ship on a four-day tour to Matchu Pichhu, and partly because of illness.

Later, after a post-class cup of tea (cos I’m generally gasping for a cuppa by then), we returned to the back deck, on the opposite side of the ship, and saw a couple of dolphins in the same ‘sweet-spot’ area, enjoying the bow wave… I’m convinced there’s something in it (but I could be wrong).