So the celebration probably started Thursday seeing Walker fly fishing at Cow Wreck Bay followed by a lobster dinner with the four of us at Potter's followed by games, etc. Pretty good birthday eve...

Waking up on your birthday at Anegada is great. I asked the rest of my crew (first mate Sandy), Will, and Claudia what they wanted to do and they suggested a new dive, the RMS Paramatta. We set sail via the North drop for some fishing along the way. Who am I to disagree?



Not too far off Cow Wreck Beach, I saw a humpback breach. Just too late with the camera, I was able to get this photo as he popped up again right after the big splash:



The fishing the rest of the way was pretty good, one dog (aka baracuda), one king fish, and one head of a Spanish mackerel (first bites of the week literally). We reached the dive site and visibility was INCREDIBLE on this wreck and conditions were perfect, seas 1-2 feet and less than 10 knots of breeze.



Coming off the high of the dive site, who thought it could get much better. We spotted a white object not too far ahead and then it was gone. Not a boat...It was on our course so we continued and sure enough we saw a "blow" and a wave from the flukes.



The whale disappeared again, so we turned off the engines and drifted to see if we could see it again and next thing we knew, it was checking us out just hanging next to use between showing us its flukes and just staring for about 30 minutes!




My GoPro was still in the underwater housing from the dive, so I slipped in off the transom to see if I could see more and sure enough it was checking me out.



It seemed like ten minutes, but really only two, but here's the video from this birthday encounter:

[url=https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=4965179844857&set=vb.1159957405&type=2&theater Video[/url]

Just when you didn't think it could get better, a black fin tuna decided to join us for dinner...fresh sushi!

Okay, no green flash at sunset heading into Leverick Bay, but still as close to perfect as possible for a birthday!