EDITOR’S LETTER
When a group of new salts sees whales, dolphins and turtles for the first time, these old salts see the ocean through a new lens.
It was 4 a.m. Our young and mostly novice crew was operating somewhere between sleep deprived and delirious. The boat’s owner, Tom, along with my brother, Chip, and I were out to show our five newbie guests—all related to Tom—what the world offshore was like. One of our guests, Angel, had flown in from Alaska for the experience. While familiar with life in the outdoors—such as driving with her family for five hours to take their boat salmon fishing—she had never been in the deep or on the Atlantic Ocean. ¶ Tom navigated his 50-foot express through a pitch-black inlet to open water, and soon, we were headed southeast for a few hours’ run. Our guests settled in, and almost all of them were instantly back in REM sleep. Tom, Chip and I sat three across at the helm, keeping watch. ¶ Watching a sunrise over the open ocean is one of the most sublime moments that cruisers get to experience, and our guests popped awake long enough to rub their eyes and take in the fiery orb stretching its legs to say good morning. Some of them took video. Some sat in awe. No one said a word. If nothing else happened this day, the view made the 2:45 a.m. alarm worth it. But there was more awesome to come. ¶ Around
Some whales arched their back as they surfaced, revealing their jaw-dropping size. Others flapped their flukes as they dove.
7:30 a.m., we spotted spouts in the distance. Humpback whales. Everyone was awake now. One spout. Two. Three. Four. Cameras came back out as the magnificent mammals cruised around us. Some whales arched their backs as they surfaced, revealing their jaw-dropping size. Others flapped their flukes as they dove. Our Alaskan visitor had never seen a sight like this, or the next one: a prodigious pod of two-tone dolphins leaping in synchronicity within a few feet of our boat. Our crew exclaimed: “Cool!” “Wow!” “Did you see that?” ¶ The dolphins eventually moved on, but the whales stayed all day. ¶ In the early afternoon, another one of our crew, Ali, spotted a coffee-table-size turtle heading toward us. We drifted as it swam across the bow. Ali climbed up the tuna tower to shoot video of the encounter. Her excitement was as bubbly as a Champagne bottle popping open. ¶ By the end of the day, our crew had their first encounters with whales, dolphin, turtles, tuna and more as they discovered a universe beyond the shore. ¶ And for longtime sea dogs like Tom, Chip and me, when you get to see that level of energy at the newness of it all, it makes it all new for you again too. It’s a reminder of how fortunate we are to spend our lives on the water.
patrick sciacca Editor-in-Chief patrick.sciacca@yachtingmagazine.com