05:05 local, 23 July 2019
Lat: 43° 58.4’ N
Lon: 64° 18.9’ W
Weather: Overcast, scattered rain, wind 14kt, NE
Water temperature: 64°F/Air temperature: 58°F
Course: 072M
Speed: 6.1kts
Distance from Delaware Bay Entrance: 578NM
Distance from Halifax Harbor Entrance: 46NM

We are closing in on the port of Halifax, ETA 14:00. The fourth day of a passage is about when we get fully into the rhythm of watch schedules and underway life. Despite that, we are both very much looking forward to an uninterrupted sleep.

There has been lot more wildlife to see. We are learning that the best viewing here is near where water temperatures are changing, and they change a lot here! In the last 12 hours we have seen water as cold as 46°F, and as warm as 64°F. Many more birds, mostly shearwaters and storm petrels. Harbor porpoises, harbor seals, and pilot whales have rounded out the visible critters.

The pilot whales were in a closely packed group of about a dozen, cavorting on the surface for about 10 minutes before diving as a group to feed in the 800 feet deep water. After about 10 minutes they would reappear very near where they dove. It’s a pretty typical place to find pilot whales: deep water, yet near land. They live all over the world. The last time we saw them was in the Molokai Channel in Hawaii’.

Because it was calm and the whales were close, we tried to launch the drone to get pictures of them. We didn’t quite get our act together quickly enough before they moved on. We also learned a lot about launching and recovering the drone from a rolling and pitching boat. I learned how to drive it, Karen learned how to catch it, and to keep her fingers away from the propellers (Ouch!). We’ll be better next time, or if not better at least faster!

After 36 hours of motoring through flat calm seas, we finally have some wind, unfortunately it it dead straight on our nose. For now we have decided to continue to motor into it which will save us several hours. That decision might change if the waves build, or the wind direction shifts a bit.