Crossing the Gulf of Maine — 2003-08-16 15:45
At 14:30-14:40, a pod of dolphins came to play and swim alongside. I counted five of them, leaping and diving. Several times a dolphin crossed just beneath the bow. They were beautiful.
I spotted the first one swimming just off the port bow. I peered forward, and recognized it as it dove across the bow. I raised the cry, and the pod started leaping off the starboard beam. They went astern, then ’round to 7 & 8 o’clock, while one or two at a time came forward to play. (My father has since said he thought there may have been as many as three pods, one each port and starboard and one up by the bow. That makes sense, given how quickly they seemed to move from one place to another. In that case, I would have to guess that there were at least fifteen of them.)
An hour later, at 15:35, someone aft spotted a spout on the starboard beam. We saw it blow several times.
Riding the bow, as I have said, is incredible — slowing to an almost stop relative to the waves on which we ride, watching those waves rush by mere inches from the gunwhales (sometimes christening the anchor), and surging forward on the next wave.