We left Reykjavik on the 20th of September having seen the amazing northern lights the night before. The first day of passage was sunny and calm. The day started out nicely since we had two sightings of white-beaked dolphins in Faxafloi Bay. However, on the following evening the wind started picking up and in the end rough conditions and sea sickness lasted for 3-4 days. Despite the conditions, we had plenty of good acoustic detections of killer whales, pilot whales, sperm whales and dolphins. Eventually, we were pushed to the north of the Faroe Islands by the strong winds gusting up to 40 knots causing a slight deviation from our planned route. One of the Genoa sheets (the rope used to pull the sail in) snapped in the middle of the night but thankfully our experienced sailing crew managed to get it fixed without it causing too much damage.
Finally, the wind turned north easterly and we were sailing again in the right direction. When the weather finally calmed down, we were sailing southwards along the Scottish east coast, passing through potential sites for future offshore wind farms. On the way, we had a day filled with white-beaked dolphin encounters. The group sizes varied from two to seven dolphins and often they stayed with the boat bowriding up to almost an hour. Today is not only the last day of the passage but also the end of the field season. Some of the crew have been on board for the whole six months, some have been on board only for a week but all of us will take home good memories of the times spent on Song of the Whale.
Milaja & Miriam
