[DAY 87] Whales

I started my day with a call with Dr. Sebastien Montel, a psychologist who is monitoring my state of mind and counseling me whenever I need it. Then, our onboard physician, Maks did an echo of my heard. It is one of our protocols, the procedure is conducted once every month to monitor the structure and function of my heart. The data gathered is sent to Dr. Levine and his team in Dallas, Texas for analysis.

I started the swim being paced by Gonzo on the kayak while the crew was working on resolving an issue with our electric engine for the dinghy. Thanks to Jim and the Torqeedo people we had all the parts we needed.

For few hours I was swimming thinking about George, the shark and how he would behave in our next encounter. At the moment I knew I couldn’t get out of the water, I only had the kayak beside me. But as soon as the dinghy was ready Ty and Mark came and replaced Gonzo and the kayak.

The rest of the day was business as usual…plastic. I was very much in my thoughts, I heard a squeaking noise like the one that my teeth make when rubbed against the silicone mouthpiece of my snorkel and I did not put much thought into it. I told myself if dolphins are around, there won’t be any George.

At my next food break, Ty asked me: “did you see the pilot whales swimming around you?”

Ty and Mark thought that since they came very close to me I saw them. Unfortunately, I did not but it wasn’t the end of the day.

After my hours of swimming, once I got back to Seeker, I was ready to lay down and rest when I heard: “whales, whales!” I came on deck and a pod of pilot whales with calves were few meters off our port side. They swam away and came back to Seeker’s bow. Gonzo and I got our fins, snorkel and goggles on and with a GoPro in our hands waited for the right moment to jump in the water and join them. After a few minutes, we did, we swam in their direction but they were already too far and we didn’t get the chance to get close to them. There is always tomorrow…

Ben

Weather conditions:

Sunny (could coverage 2/8)

Wind speed: 8 kts

Wind direction: W

Waves height: 0.5-1m

Waves direction: NE

Water temperature: 27.2°C

Miles swam: 12.71