Tuesday, March 23, 1999 enroute to Bequia

We received plenty of emails with answers to our mystery fish in yesterdays journal.  But  no answer was right yet.  So get your fishid books out and have a closer look.  The cap is still waiting for a winner....

We are on the way to Bequia.  After an early rise at 5am, we made our way west of Dominica to spend the early morning hours looking for the Spermwhales, that we still have not sighted yet.   We dropped our hydrophones a couple of times, but with no luck at all.  After 2-3 hours we changed our course   and headed towards Martinique, the Island just 28 NM south of Dominica, to be greeted by a huge school of Spinner dolphins that were feeding in the strong currents.   They are  very active and we did not really knew where to look next.   There must have been at least 200-300 of them all around the STARSHIP. 

Spinner Dolphin

We have been blessed with quite a few dolphin sightings, but somehow it never becomes boring.  And this was clearly one of the better encounters.  But it was topped with a pod of short finned pilot whales, which were mingling close to the dolphins. 


Pilot Whale at the surface

I continue this journal with words from our new crew member Angelica:

"In the end  we must have seen at least a dozen up close but not quite personal. As soon as we went for mask & fins they were on the merry way.   At around sunset we were greeted with smiles from 2 locals just off their beautiful   Island of St. Lucia.  All these Islands seem to be full of helpful young entrepreneurs ready to assist any boat.  Passing these volcanic Islands makes me feel as if I am floating in mother natures womb; it renews my spirit.  My soul is smiling and my roots are absorbing all they can. It's easy to forget what nature is capable of good and bad, we just have to respect her."

STARSHIP passing southern tip of St. Lucia

We continued to steam well into the night and arrived in Admirality Bay just past midnight where we dropped our anchor in a very busy bay full of boats.

Michael