Race 10 - Day 9
Crew Diary - Race 10 Day 9
09 April

Mermaids..

It was a very, very dark night. As dark as we had encountered so far as we crossed the Pacific. No moon, no stars. The thick cloud made it difficult to even identify the horizon. The only lights were the specs of phosphorescence thrown up on our bow wave.

Suddenly a cry from the hem. “Lights in the water to port.” We stared into the gloom. Lights indeed. Streaks of light in the water.

Soon we could see four streaks of light darting here and there. The streaks were reminiscent of a comet. Something was leaving long trails,10m long or more, of phosphoresce glowing in the dark.

What were they? One could imagine how ancient mariners thought they saw mermaids. The tails were mermaid-like, moving up and down, but the body?

Soon we could see the details. Amazingly clear detail all picked out by the phosphorescence. We could see the head, the dorsal fin, and the exact outline of the body, all picked out in pitch black by the phosphorescent light thrown up by their movement. They were dolphins, four of them.

They spent the next 20 minutes playing around the boat. We could hear them breathe. We could see every movement as they darted, crossed, and dived leaving trails of phosphorescent light in their wake.

We were awed. Sir David Attenborough has brought many special moments to TV, but we doubted that even he had had the privilege to see what we were seeing unfold before our eyes. They were a magical 20 minutes. It may have been 0200 and bitterly cold, but no one left the rail as we lapped up every moment, every movement, every flash of light. Lapping up the joy of the dolphins playing and the trails of light that revealed that joy.

All agreed it was the highlight of their voyage so far. For some, it was the most magical thing they had seen, full stop.

Dickie Danby

Zhuhai