{"id":13425,"date":"2023-05-18T07:27:32","date_gmt":"2023-05-18T11:27:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aleta.life\/?p=13425"},"modified":"2023-06-30T02:26:10","modified_gmt":"2023-06-30T06:26:10","slug":"orcas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aleta.life\/index.php\/2023\/05\/18\/orcas\/","title":{"rendered":"Orcas"},"content":{"rendered":"
Position: 38\u00b024’50.5″N 9\u00b013’23.9″W<\/a><\/h6>\n

\"pexels-andre-estevez-3309865\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAleta, Aleta, Aleta, Billaroo, Billaroo, Billaroo.\u201d The VHF awoke with an unmistakably Australian accent. Twenty-four hours into our passage, we approached our final leg to Lisbon by rounding Cape Espichel and crossing the depths of the Lisbon canyon. Dropping down to channel 72, our antipodean hailer said, “We have some American friends that passed this way yesterday and were visited by orcas. They weren’t aggressive. They just swam under the front of the boat and disappeared. Based on that, we’ve decided to stick to shallower water.”<\/p>\n

We thanked Billaroo for letting us know and fired up the engine. Whenever orcas are spotted on the Iberian Peninsula these days, sailors go on high alert. These big black and white dolphins have been sinking sailboats for three years now. That is not<\/u><\/em> how we want our adventures to end. Hundreds of attacks have occurred along the orcas\u2019 migratory route. Starting as far north as Cape Finisterre off northwestern Spain, down to the sailboat killing grounds in the Gulf of Cadiz, no one is immune. Even the great Robin Knox-Johnson, hero of the first Golden Globe<\/a> single handed around the world yacht race, had his steering broken<\/a> near Vigo in northern Spain last year.<\/p>\n

Juvenile Delinquents<\/h6>\n