A beautiful pod of "long-beaked common dolphins" came to play in the Rainbow Warrior's bow wave. It was a stunning sight, sleek and beautiful dolphins gliding towards us in the warmly lit afternoon. Most of us clambered onto the bow, braving the icy wind, to hang over the railings. You could hear the dolphins whistling above the waves and us humans laughing out loud with them, we just couldn't help it. It really was an amazing moment. A strange feeling though, to see them under the bow - it was so tempting to dive in and touch them. We all felt like we wanted to talk to them or get their attention, but of course didn't know how. There's something about them that is almost human, the way they enjoyed each others'company and kept their young close by, and the way they really did come to play and surf in our wake. Despite the cold we all were transfixed by them for at least an hour. I wanted to capture the moment but my camera proved too slow -attached is one of my very bad photos. Derek, the captain, who had an eventful morning fixing a propellor in scuba tank and shorts, was spotted filming the dolphins from deck. I think if such an experienced seaman as Derek is still fascinated by dolphins, they must have something very special.

It seems however that not everyone thinks so. We had a disturbing phone call from Jim this afternoon telling us that a dolphin had been caught and butchered in a whalemeat market today. Photographers from KFEM apparently managed to get photos of this, but were nearly beaten up for their trouble. I haven't got the full details of this yet, but will keep you posted. Jeena, Yewon and I were very shocked to hear this. After spending the afternoon in the company of such gentle, noble creatures, it really is very hard to imagine how someone can look one in the eye and even think of killing it.

The other news we heard today was about the earthquake and tsunami in Sumatra. This resonated with some of the crew quite hard since they spent some weeks earlier this year helping in the aftermath of the Boxing Day Tsunami in Banda Aceh. It struck me that without television, it is so hard to connect to the enormity of such a disaster, and I realised how much I rely on the BBC and CNN to package up my news and give it to me in digestible form. But it was a different kind of sadness and a different kind of empathy I felt hearing that kind of news out here in the ocean.