Midmorning someone found a storm-petrel aboard the ship and brought it to the bridge. We had been seeing these delicate birds since leaving Lisbon but this was the first one that we could inspect so closely. We assembled in the lounge and using a video camera and the television sets it was possible for all to see the bird as closely as this Web site photograph.
The small tube on the top of the bill gives the name to a group of birds called tube noses and includes the largest of birds, the royal and wandering albatrosses, and some of the smallest seabirds, the storm-petrels. We released the Leach's storm-petrel unharmed and it soared upward as if to regain its bearings after its time on the ship. After flying high over the ship for a few minutes it flew off toward the east.
Later, in the afternoon, an immature gull flew by the ship and circled. At this time we were 360 nautical miles from the African coast. The gull stayed with us for about a half an hour, often flying forward and sitting on the water near the bow letting the ship pass it. Taking wing it would overtake us again and repeat the process.
Toward evening as the sun came closer to the horizon we felt we might have a chance at a green flash but the dust from the Sahara created too much haze and the sun disappeared before it reached the horizon. While the sun was nearing the horizon we were able to see numerous sunspots which are huge storms on the sun's surface. We were seeing something that Galileo had seen first with his telescope.
Just before sunset a splash was seen some distance off the starboard bow. At first we suspected a large fish but soon it was breaching. We had looked long and hard for whales during the day and a few were rewarded with a beaked whale breaching just to the left of the setting sun.
