Thar she blows...

 After hearing reports of Fin whale sightings from some of the other Arc Rally boats north of us, we finally had a chance, actually several chances throughout today to see the behemoths ourselves. It was quite exciting. These are extremely large whales, second in size to the Blue whales. They are recognized by the tiny little fin on the back half. 

We first noticed them as they came to the surface and blew out a plume of water and air. They then broke the surface as they swam gently by. They are gentle giants heading slowly south west as we are headed equally slowly north east.

In each sighting we saw several whales, or a pod, that were moving along together.

To save you the effort of googling fin whale, I did it for you:

The fin whale, also known as finback whale or common rorqual and formerly known as herring whale or razorback whale, is a cetacean belonging to the parvorder of baleen whales. It is the second-longest species of cetacean on Earth after the blue whale. Wikipedia

On one of the sightings as we were admiring the whales, a pod of dolphins came roaring over and were playing around the front of Sea Dog. Its like they were saying, whales, big deal, what about us, look at us...

Along with whales, dolphins and Man-o-War jellyfish, the fishing has been pretty good for some of the catamarans that have been fishing. The catch so far are a couple types of tuna, a couple of wahoo (aka Ono in Hawaii) and some smaller fish. Sadly they are nowhere near us, hopefully they will share the bounty in the Azores. One of the tuna was HUGE, at least 5.5 feet long. One of the female crew on the boat laid down on the deck next to the fish to give a perspective of its actual size. They reported they took several hours to land the fish... Incredible.

Party time in Bermuda with the Arc Rally!

We had a wonderful few days in Bermuda which were spent resting, repairing, relaxing, restocking, sight seeing, socializing and most importantly showering, not necessarily in that order. We met the crews of many of the other boats, joining us on our Atlantic crossing as part of the Arc Europe 2023 Rally, at the various social events organized by the wonderful World Cruising team. The social events included a meet and greet open bar with finger food at the St George's Dinghy and Sports Club, a costume party with a cash bar and tasty buffet for dinner and finally a rum tasting put on by Goslings Rum preceding the sit down awards dinner.

At first of the events, the social meet and greet, the entire crew donned their Sea Dog finery which includes custom embroidered polo shirts and some pretty snazzy shorts (thank to Michele for the idea and execution).

The theme for the costume party was Pirates night out. Michele took it a step further and being that we had four members on board Sea Dog, myself, Michele, Michelle and Keith, she suggested we do Peter Pan. We were a smash  hit!  I am sure we would have won best costumed boat crew if they had a contest. I will let you figure out who was who...

On Saturday night we were entertained by a traditional Bermudian dance troupe knows as the Gombeys. They are an iconic symbol of Bermuda blending the cultures of Africa, Caribbean and Britain through dance and drumming. After the performance we enjoying a BBQ on the outside deck of the St George's Dinghy and Sports club that offers sweeping views over the harbor.

The final night started with a rum tasting sponsored by Goslings, a 200 year rum dynasty on Bermuda. An interesting side note, they do not actually distill the rum in Bermuda as it is against the law to distill any hard alcohol. They import different rums and do the blending and aging to produce the various runs under the Gosling label. Goslings even makes there own ginger beer for the iconic Dark and Stormy, a Bermuda tradition and one tasty totty!. They do allow brewing, the local Bermuda ale was a big hit and very tasty. They ran out after the first night of events.

The rum tasting was following by a group picture on the lawn in front of the club and then another tasty buffer hosted the club.

We are the group of white polos shirts in the back left corner.

                     Check out my new official Bermuda shorts.

We ended up buying a couple different bottles of the Goslings rum duty free and have them stashed away on Sea Dog to be enjoyed on our arrival in the Azores.

Sea Dog and her crew where actually given a bottle of rum and a six back of ginger beer by Brenda the bartender at the club for being her favorite crew.  Lets just stay, it was a Dark and Stormy night aboard Sea Dog prior to departure and that one bottle of rum did not see a new day!  Arrrgghh.

Walsingham Nature Preserve and Blue Hole Park

We weighed anchor early this morning and motored down to the south west corner of Castle Harbour. We dropped anchor in about 25 ft of water and jumped in the dinghy for a wet ride to a small beach near Walsingham Nature Preserve. Once ashore we round our way thru the jungle like trail until we found one set of caves. We spent a hour or so exploring the caves. 

Michele, Keith and Michelle letting there eyes adjust to the darkness before venturing deeper into the cave.

There are multiple entrances into the caves so you get light from different angles that are really pretty.

I only bumped my head once and once is enough.

We then headed to Blue Hole Park, where there is literally a hole in the rocks filled with very blue water. It is a popular spot for locals and tourists alike. You can swim, snorkel and cliff jump from various spots along the rim.  The hole is affected by tide, so you need to judge the depth before you take a plunge. I went to the highest spot at the far end of the hole, but it looked to shallow for the height, so I changed plans. Really, the water was too shallow...

Here we go!

A safe landing.

The high spot with the shallow landing.

Michele taking the plunge.

I went to the next high spot where you can get a running start.

Second attempt, showing off a little bit.

There was also nice flora and fauna to be found in the preserve.

Not far from the preserve you cross the road into civilization in the form of the Grotto Bay Beach Resort and Spa. On the grounds is Cathedral Cave that is back lit with walking paths. You can swim in the cave but the water was pretty chilling, never seeing the sun.

After an exhausting morning of caving and cliff jumping, we acted like we were staying at the Resort and partook in the beautiful swimming pool on the ledge above a white sand beach and the blue waters of Bermuda. At the pool is an outside bar and cafe, unfortunately no one remember to carry a wallet, credit cards or cash. The grounds have pretty natural landscaping and I took this picture of a bird of paradise.

It was time to leave Castle Harbour and head back to St George's Harbour. The rest of fleet was starting to arrive. The fastest boats were in the harbour as we returned. Tonight was the first of several social events the are put on by the World Cruising Crew as part of Arc Europe 2023. It was an open bar socializer at the St George's Dinghy and Sports Club. We got to meet some of the other boaters that will be joining us on the next leg of our journey across the Atlantic. Seems like a good group of people and we are looking forward to more adventures and camaraderie.

Another spectacular sunset looking west over the St George's Harbour toward town from the balcony of the St George's Dinghy and Sports Club.

Sea Dog out.

Castle Harbour

We dropped the mooring ball this morning and headed around the corner to Castle Harbour. From Wikipedia: "Castle Harbour is a large natural harbour in Bermuda. It is located between the northeastern end of the main island and St. David's Island. Originally called Southampton Port, it was renamed as a result of its heavy fortification in the early decades of the Seventeenth century.

We dropped anchored in the northeast end sheltered from the NE winds. The waters are an incredible blue due to the sand bottom. Michele says she saw the anchor hit the bottom in 25 feet of water. There is a small island that is off limits, without a permit, that is an ecological preserve. There is a rusted out sunken ship near the island that has good snorkeling. Michele and Keith took the snorkeling gear out to check out the fish. We then dinghied to a beautiful white sand beach and walked along the trails for spectacular views east over the Atlantic. Unfortunately I left my phone on the boat. The pictures here are limited to those taken from the boat of our little corner of Castle Harbour.

Sunken boat, great snorkel spot!

Five years ago, June 2018, when we were here with Gadi and Marina, we visited the Walsingham Nature Reserve, a set of caves and nature area in the southwest corner of Castle Harbour. It was an incredible adventure. I have included some pictures below of that trip. Our friends have not been there, so tomorrow morning early, we will weigh anchor and head down to the reserve. 

Leap of faith ala Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Well the sun is setting on another fantastic day in Bermuda. Good night to all and to all a good night!

Sea Dog out...