Breach

We were motor sailing in the late afternoon during my watch. The water on one side of Sila sparkled, like so many diamonds in the sunlight. I was on the poop deck, looking out over the water when a disturbance caught my eye. The smooth water a few hundred meters away turned white as something broke the surface. I shouted, "Whale!"

Mama and Daddy, who were in the dog house, came out and looked where I was pointing. We waited several minutes, but nothing surfaced. Then we all saw it again. Four or five dorsal fins were vanishing from sight in the swell. It happened again. Then again, each time coming closer to us. Then about fifty meters away one breached. It was a dolphin. Its tail left the water momentarily before it splashed down again. We had not seen dolphins in a long time, and a full breach is very uncommon when we see dolphins.

By now, Adam and Porter were on deck. Then my heart leaped, as did another dolphin. It shot straight out of the water, five, ten, then fifteen feet into the air like a dancer on a trampoline. It spun in mid air before crashing backwards, back into the blue water. At the same time, another dolphin flew out of the top of a wave, twisting, and turning before it too landed, with a splash in the water. I was amazed. I had never before seen a dolphin leap so astonishingly high. Two more dolphins breeched. Then they stopped. They were at the bow riding Sila's wake. Adam, Porter and I went to the bow and watched the dolphins swim, quite easily in front of us. The dolphin I was watching peeled away from Sila, and quite suddenly they were gone. I will never get tired of seeing dolphins; they are just amazing. - Jack Rabbit

Editor's Note: This bottle nose dolphin experience happened on Sunday, March 29, our ninth day at sea since leaving Ascension Island. We were near 07°08'N 16°54'W.