[p]Fluenta2014
[pos] 34 13.7n 167 00.6e
[sp]5.0
[h]012T
[w]TWS 13 TWD 202T Baro 1016.9 Sea Temp 23.5C. Air temp 23C. Solid overcast. Mixed seas and west swell.
[s] Under sail since 0130L today in SW winds ranging from 12 to 17 kts. Feels like the doldrums are done. Came across our first fishing net(s) with AIS. We "saw" the first AIS contact 35nm away and then as we got closer another three AIS contacts popped up. Two were labeled "Net Fishing" and the other two were clearly labeled as buoys and they were spread out 20nm across our path. No ship answered hails or acknowledged DSC calls. We could not see any vessels on radar or visually. I think all four contacts were net buoys but no ship within radar distance which seemed odd. Rather than diverting 10nm around the buoys - rather a pain as we would need to gybe away and back as we were already on a deep broad reach - we approached the line carefully as it was just daylight by then. Nothing could be seen until we were about 100' away when we saw little white marker buoys in a line perpendicular to our path. Turns out the net must be weighted as we managed to sail over it without incident. More fun was seeing a pod of large dolphins followed by a school of tuna beside the boat (hiding from the dolphins ?)
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