At Sea
We are sailing northwest from Western Sahara to our last stop at Isla El Hierro. El Hierro is the most westerly and most southerly of the Canary Islands. In the 15th century it was the westernmost land in the known world and was called the Meridian Island because maps for a time placed the zero meridian at El Hierro and measured everything east from there. In this system, Paris was thought to be at Longitude 20˚E. When the Azores were discovered in 1409 the system was abandoned.
As we sailed north we encountered marine life including sperm whales and a Bryde’s whale. In the afternoon, we found a large pod of spotted dolphins who rode our bow for over half an hour. We also observed a large school of tuna boiling at the surface chasing bait fish. All these are indicators of the richness of the waters through which we are sailing. The Northwest African coast is characterized by coastal upwelling, a process which produces one-half of the tonnage of fish caught in the world ocean. In these areas, off the west coasts of the continents, nutrient rich deep water upwells fertilize a rich food chain, which feeds intense fish production. We had observed some of the Moroccan fishing fleet in Dakhla yesterday and in addition to the local boats, this ecosystem is exploited by nearly all the European countries and several Asian countries.
