No. IV · February · mmxxviMirissa
Whales we didnot see.
4 min read
Mirissa · southern coast
An early sea morning that gave us, instead, an hour of dolphins, a flat horizon, and a captain who told us the sea would do better next week.
The skiff left at five-fifteen and the sea was the colour of old pewter. By six we were two miles out and the sun was up, and by seven we knew the whales were not coming. The captain — Ranil, who has watched this water since he was a boy — read the swell for ten minutes and said only, the sea will do better next week.
What we had instead was an hour of common dolphins. A long file of them, four hundred or more, moving south at a pace the boat could just keep. Twice they swam beneath us, close enough to read the markings, and once a small one came alongside and looked up. There is a particular sort of silence on a small boat when this happens.
We came back at nine, ate breakfast at anchor in the lee of Parrot Rock, and were on land by ten. The guests said it was the best morning of the trip. They did not see a whale.
We did not refund the fee. We sent them out again, on us, the following week. They saw three.
Filed from Mirissa · southern coast, on .