Tuesday 18th March 2008
We are all so excited on “Asolare” as we have spotted the mystical South Pacific LURGI.
We first spotted it on our port beam about ½ mile away and remarkably it came closer until it was about 200 meters behind us. We then noticed that it was accompanied by a baby Lurgi that also leapt, always in synchronised leaps, near its “mum”. They then did a final leap and were gone. Their last known position was 09.241S 114.024W at 14:07 UTC 18th March 2008.
We will shortly be sending a sighting report, No. 0104, to the World Wildlife Trust (rare creature spotting section) and it will be very interesting to find out when the last one was spotted as we now can expect press and TV eagerly awaiting our arrival in Hiva Oa. Very little is known of the life cycle and territorial coverage of the Lurgi but it has only been spotted in the South Pacific where the water is particularly deep. It is thought therefore that it lives mainly on the ocean floor where its translucent, gelatinous structure, very much like a jellyfish, will not be affected by the enormous pressure at 5,000 + meters. Its head, which is about 1 meter (3 feet) wide, has two extremely large and bulbous eyes, and two pairs of much smaller eyes. This eye feature is totally unique in the marine world and this makes it so fascinating. It is thought that it uses it’s very large eyes on the sea bed where it is almost totally dark and so as not to damage their remarkable sensitivity, closes these eyes and uses the other two pairs of very small eyes for seeing near and on the surface. Most of the above we have gleaned from the Internet and are still following several Internet threads to learn more of this elusive creature. Apparently, the first authenticated sighting reported was at 08:37 on April 1, 1892 by a Captain Nemo.
We were all so fascinated that we did not think to grab a camera until it was about 200 meters behind us, but caught the attached photo as it was just starting one of about seven leaps in total. If you look very closely you can see the baby behind its “mother”.
We have had some exciting and wondrous moments on board “Asolare” since we started the World ARC but we know we are not going to top this for originality!
Capt. Peter