Page 93 - 2003 - Atlantic Islands

special only to that species and two fellow travelers on the sea - a tanker and a

container ship, both bound to round the Cape of Good Hope. The whales were the

most marvelous - so huge and long. Kay got excellent pictures of them and we think

we may have even seen sucker marks from the giant squid on one large body. Clyde

came later in the day and saw the pictures but he felt that the single ring marking

made it unlikely that it was an Architeuthis (giant squid). Those usually present

themselves in pairs at the very least. He thought it was more likely to be a parasite of

some type on the whale’s skin.

We have decided to keep the day for ourselves today and have refrained from

attending any of the lectures or other activities, instead of amusing ourselves in our

cabin with reading and research and enjoying the ocean views. We skipped a video

on Longitude, a lecture, and dinner; we’re just really wearied by too much food over

too long a supper time.

At lunchtime we saw “Spectacled Petrels” and Kay got some excellent pictures of this

quite endangered bird. Later on at Recap, Marco told us just how “on the edge” these

Tristan birds are. In 1938, they were down to 6 breeding pairs! Today they are at 1000

breeding pairs but that does not get them off the critical list. The biggest threat they

face today is long line fishing which, of course, also imperils so many of the seabirds.

This bird has large bluish eye rings which gives him the “Harry Potter” look.

Afternoon tea was our supper so we had a crustless sandwich and two cookies. We

each took a piece of crumb cake back to the cabin so we could snack if we got

hungry. We luxuriated in our own time and kept “appreciating” what time it was at

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