Fulmars and Gannets

03:00, Shannon on watch. Sugary tea, flat-ish waves make for a more optimistic view of the world. A sliver moon waving farewell for this month. The Milky Way is left to light our path. And the Big and Little Dippers, drifting in and out of clouds. They seem to have all righted themselves, after being tipped over and moved about down in the Caribbean.
We’re now up at over 50 degrees north, making good progress: 141nm over ground today.
More good news: the Navtex weather reports are now ticking in. Not that the weather predicted can be called good news. There are gale warnings up and down the coast of Ireland, moving north to Scotland, the Hebrides. But it looks like there will be a slot to slide into harbor further south, in Kinsale later this week. Cross fingers, toes.

More signs of northern waters: the Fulmar and the Gannet. First we see the bullet-bodied Fulmar on short stiff wings, skillfully skimming the waves, well under radar height. Watch out for hopping dolphins!
Then the elegant Gannet. Shining white, with long, narrow wings, black-tipped. Bright yellow neck and head, black-ringed eyes, a real dandy. They soar above us in pairs, sometimes with a gangling youth about. I’m just wondering, with all this continual soaring, when do they ever find time to eat? But then I see, in the distance, a whole flock of Gannets, bright white in the sun, swirling about like bits of white paper. Then diving down into the sea. A feeding frenzy. Hence the expression, “Greedy as a Gannet”? Apparently they feast till they’re so heavy they can’t fly.