Galinhos
130nm North of Natal
What an unforgettable trip!
We planned our departure to arrive in Galinhos in day time. We left Natal at about 8am under much different conditions than our arrival. There were hardly any swell with wind from the back and only a little bit of clouds visible. At midday while I was steering (the self steering is still not working) I saw something huge leap out of the water and splashed down. At first I could not believe my eyes and I could not imagine what it was, defiantly far bigger than a dolphin. For the next half hour we were entertained by two Humpback whales. They were breaching and tail-and flipper slapping. We were too stunned to think of taking any pictures. What a performance for our first whale sighting!
Just after I caught a Carvalo at sunset another whale breached a couple of times.
The wind became stronger at times and with the clouds insight we had the mainsail on 3 Reefs for the night, but still sailed about 4knots average. At daybreak we opened the jib and sailed at about 5-6 knots. The swell were at first a bit higher, but flattened out as we moved closer to land. Just when it was Jaco’s turn to take the steering to give me a break, the bungy snapped… there was a big one on the line! We brought in the Jib, I steered into the wind and got our speed down to 1knot and Jaco had to bring in the big one. As the fish got to the boat, I handed Jaco the gaff, but at that moment it splashed and got off the hook, Jaco tried in vain to gaff it and lost our gaff over board!!! I thought he was going to jump after it. (The fish) We lost a big fish and the old rusted gaff. Jaco still don’t want to talk about it. (The fish)
We had such a great, pleasant sail. We only used the engine an hour when leaving Natal and another on arrival at Galinhos.
What an unforgettable trip!
We planned our departure to arrive in Galinhos in day time. We left Natal at about 8am under much different conditions than our arrival. There were hardly any swell with wind from the back and only a little bit of clouds visible. At midday while I was steering (the self steering is still not working) I saw something huge leap out of the water and splashed down. At first I could not believe my eyes and I could not imagine what it was, defiantly far bigger than a dolphin. For the next half hour we were entertained by two Humpback whales. They were breaching and tail-and flipper slapping. We were too stunned to think of taking any pictures. What a performance for our first whale sighting!
Just after I caught a Carvalo at sunset another whale breached a couple of times.
The wind became stronger at times and with the clouds insight we had the mainsail on 3 Reefs for the night, but still sailed about 4knots average. At daybreak we opened the jib and sailed at about 5-6 knots. The swell were at first a bit higher, but flattened out as we moved closer to land. Just when it was Jaco’s turn to take the steering to give me a break, the bungy snapped… there was a big one on the line! We brought in the Jib, I steered into the wind and got our speed down to 1knot and Jaco had to bring in the big one. As the fish got to the boat, I handed Jaco the gaff, but at that moment it splashed and got off the hook, Jaco tried in vain to gaff it and lost our gaff over board!!! I thought he was going to jump after it. (The fish) We lost a big fish and the old rusted gaff. Jaco still don’t want to talk about it. (The fish)
We had such a great, pleasant sail. We only used the engine an hour when leaving Natal and another on arrival at Galinhos.
