To:
Charles Ramcharan
Greetings,
Well, I thought things would settle down a bit once they made landfall,
but this is not the case (at least for me :-)). I talked with Rosi and
Jim last night, and passed along everyone's messages. They are very
pleased (and perhaps surprised) that so many people are so interested in
the trip. They said to say hello and thanks for the encouragement to
everyone following the trip!
They will call tonight and I will find out about their next planned
departure date. They will be adding a fourth crew member this week.
Wolfgang Holdik from Mainhardt, Germany, is scheduled to arrive on the
16th. He will accompany them for the next leg. They plan to continue
on to France, but this schedule may change depending on customs
requirements they may face on entering the country. There is a rumor
floating around that they may have to pay a VAT (value added tax) upon
clearing customs. If this is truly the case, then they may point their
bow in a different direction.
You may be wondering about the communications arrangements we have now.
Traditionally, you were not allowed to operate in the territorial waters
of a foreign country without having special arrangements. Bud Morin has
indicacted that a recent statement issued by the FCC has changed this
requirement. So Peter may actually be allowed to communicate using the
radio after all. This would be a great relief, because the phone is
expensive and they have to wait in some large lines to get access.
When I talked to Rosi and Jim, we mostly discussed planning and
communications kinds of things, so I wasn't able to get much information
about how they were feeling or what their impressions were of the trip.
Rosi did mention something about how *many* marine mammals they have
seen. She was filled with awe and maybe a smidgen of terror. They are
HUGE!
I did a little net surfing and found the following info about whale
migration (they may have been seeing this - COOL!)
For blue whales in the North Atlantic Ocean, it looks like they spend
the winter in warmer water in the deep center of the ocean. As far as
we can tell, they probably don't eat all winter. In the spring they
migrate to places where they can find food. Those tend to be in cold,
productive, shallower water from Canada to
Greenland, Iceland, and Norway. The closest place to Rhode Island to
regularly find feeding blue whales is usually in the Gulf of St.
Lawrence in Canada. Some time in the fall, they leave their feeding
grounds and migrate back to their winter habitats.
For some nice whale (and other marine mammal) photos, see the following
web site:
http://nmml01.afsc.noaa.gov/gallery/cetaceans.htm
To learn more factual info about gray whales, see the following:
http://whales.magna.com.au/DISCOVER/GRAY/grayg.html
I'll continue to keep y'all posted,
Alles Gouda
Yvonne
