Waking up at 3am: Not usually worth it

It's not often that a 3am wake up call is rewarding. As far as I'm concerned, 3am is a good time to be going to bed after a night on the town rather than getting out of it. Unfortunately, living on a boat means different rules apply - namely, whilst under way, someone always has to be on watch. We look out for fishing boats, cargo ships, icebergs, mermaids - you name it, we try to avoid it.

I have somehow landed the best/worst shift: 3-6 (that's AM and PM) which means yes, I have to wake up at 2.50am to get conscious before I start, but I also get to witness a beautiful sunset and sunrise...and it's not often I am awake for both of these in one day!

So I'd just finished my morning watch and I was dragging my weary self back to bed, when I heard this exhale noise from outside the back door. I looked out, confused, and saw a cloud of steam rising from the back of the boat. Worried, I ran out to see if the generator was producing smoke (bad news) and instead saw something that my sleep deprived brain struggled to make sense of: a dark grey mass, glistening in the light of the dawn, barely a metre from the back of the boat. My very first whale! His square head was out of the water, and as he dived again I got to see the rest of him; bony spine and huge body and a flick of his tail as he went back below. Eventually something clicked into place and I started shouting to get everyone's attention (opinions differ as to whether it was 'Holy shit!' I said first, or 'Woaaaaah!' but whatever it was, Emily and Siem came running, thinking there was some kind of disaster) and were quick enough to see it too - a small pod of Sperm whales, slowly crossing the path the boat had made in the waves. They surfaced every few metres and we saw lots of 'blow' - not steam! The animal I saw most clearly was at least 8m long, possibly a juvenile and most fantastically square headed - almost a right angle. He looked right at me and winked! Or maybe that was sleep deprivation...

 If you squint and turn your head to the side you can just about see where the whale was...and some blow.










I'm glad the girls were quick enough to come and see - it was a fantastic moment to see those  majestic animals up close, but it does make me wonder how much we miss because we're too busy to look out for it. If I'd have gone to bed a single minute earlier, those giant, graceful creatures would have passed us right by and we'd have been oblivious. 

 




It's not often that waking up at 3am is worth it - but today was definitely one of those days! 

A much better shot of some beautiful dolphins (who doesn't love dolphins?) that we saw frequently in Indonesia, as they ride the bow wave.