Blue By You!

(Written on Apr 25, 2014)

The research crew hard at work on the fly bridge looking for Pygmy Blue whales.  From left Max, Alicia, Brodee and Inday.  Photo credit M. Jenner

The research crew hard at work on the fly bridge looking for Pygmy Blue whales. From left Max, Alicia, Brodee and Inday.
Photo credit M. Jenner

As I stirred from my sleep and surveyed the day looking out our window, I was excited to realise that it indeed was as nice, as it seemed.  A relatively flat sea had provided a wonderful rest and now the blue sky with puffy cumulus I could see, held great promise.  Rushing to prepare for a quick boat ride at short notice, I dressed and fussed at my boat bag making sure all four of the cameras were ready, my notebook with datasheets was full and that we had a few essential food items for our journey, which could be of uncertain length.

The yummy smells of bacon and pancakes wafted up the stairs and I could hear the gentle clanging of cutlery on plates as a delicious cooked breakfast from Resty was enjoyed by the crew.  Keenly anticipating success, I grabbed three bottles of wine to put on ice.  Resty thought it was a bit early for drinking as I shuffled through the galley clanging my clutched bottles! But I hurriedly assured him, that it would be for the celebration tonight.  A Brut Cuvee, I thought would be totally perfect to celebrate the occasion of deploying our first satellite-tag on a pygmy blue whale in the Perth Canyon.

We looked and looked for whales all morning.  With many signals on the sonobuoys we were literally driving in circles in the hope of finding these calling pygmy blue whales.  We could hear them, but why couldn’t we see them?  With all eyes on deck, we searched and searched, hoping above all, just to get a glimpse of a blow, just one – any evidence of these noisy leviathans.  Even by 11 am, the crew were starting to fade, having scanned the horizon endlessly since sunup.

The 'Orca' crew, from left and clockwise Curt, Russ and Simon.  Photo credit M. Jenner

The ‘Orca’ crew, from left and clockwise Curt, Russ and Simon.
Photo credit M. Jenner

My lunchtime preparation began and with only a few touches to go on salads and a cold chicken platter… the call came down the stairs that a whale had been found!  On the fly-bridge, Inday had seen a blow.  It was only 1.5 nm away!  Immediately we prepared to leave Whale Song in Orca.  Yes, good thing I made lunch and then we got in the boat and sailed away!  Sadly, in the end no-one was able to eat lunch – it was all go at all stations on each boat!

Russ, Simon, Curt and I gathered our gear consisting of three bags/cases of rifles, and cameras and we leapt into Orca for an ‘at sea’ underway launch.  This action is what we LOVE and what we live for!  It keeps us young.  As we were standing on deck in the final preparations for departure I said to Inday, ‘With any luck there will be two whales, we will see one and you will too!’  Just after saying that the pod surfaced and two blows side by side billowed into the air.

Into the water we plopped in Orca at noon on the dot. Curt started the motor the moment we hit the surface and the harness and block were released and we were away!  It was a textbook launch, so to speak.  We settled ourselves with our equipment – Russ in the bow, Simon just aft, Curt driving and me in the aft area hiding behind Curt to protect my camera from the waves and splashes.  I had a feeling where the whales would be and sure enough the VHF radio call came from Dale with the directions to the whales we were ‘off and racing’ that way.

Two blows lifted up out of the grey sea into the grey sky.  This would be a tad tricky tracking the blue whales with such grey light – we could only hope for the sun to break through and the familiar turquoise blue streak would be evident.  We immediately contacted with them, identifying these two pygmy blue whales by their pigmentation, one lighter and the other darker, and we accordingly called them ‘Ebony’ and ‘Ivory’.  A white blaze in front of the dorsal fin marked ‘Ivory’ and an overall darker shade of grey to the whole body was the identifier for ‘Ebony’. As well, ‘Ebony’ had a darker, more knobby and upright dorsal fin.  During one of the surfacings the team on Whale Song indicated that there were three whales in the area.  Indeed from the photos, we can see that there was a brief time when a third whale, ‘Triangle’ was with ‘Ebony’, so brief, that it only appeared in five photos.  We didn’t get close to that whale again during the rest of the encounter, but have the photographic record none the less.  For us, photography is such a valuable tool.

'Ivory' (with a white patch on its' dorsal fin in the foreground) and 'Ebony' (with a black patch on its' dorsal fin in the background) diving. In the grey light, the cookie-cutter shark bites and whale warts are evident.  Photo credit M. Jenner

‘Ivory’ (with a white patch on its’ dorsal fin in the foreground) and ‘Ebony’ (with a black patch on its’ dorsal fin in the background) diving. In the grey light, the cookie-cutter shark bites and whale warts are evident.
Photo credit M. Jenner

As we raced towards the blows, with directions from the sightings of Inday and the spotting team on the fly-bridge of Whale Song, I chuckled to myself.  Here we were scooting over the waves, just as in 1990, when we first arrived in Australia, feeling all-the-world like a cowboy or cowgirl prancing on our steed – the white horses of the waves, on a whaley quest.  Over the course of a few sightings, we didn’t see ‘Ebony’ for a while, only ‘Ivory’s’ light, grey body curving above the swell. With each approach we were ready for action.  Russ with Dan-Inject rifle and a LIMPET satellite tag prepped on an arrow and Simon was all set with the PAXARM rife for collection of a biopsy sample for genetic determination.  It was wonderful to be back – back on the water in a small boat, back in the Perth Canyon with our blue whale friends and back at what we do best, playing with whales.

‘We have a blow at 350 degrees and 1 nm from Whale Song’ Inday radioed to Curt.  Off we raced over the waves to the tall, white blows swirling above the now blue sea.  ‘Over there, they are together again’, we discussed as we approached ‘Ebony’ with ‘Ivory’ just beyond.  As ‘Ebony’ swam, perhaps 5 m down, Curt positioned Orca right beside the whale.  In the clear water the whales’ blue body showed – no it glowed, a beautiful turquoise hue.  There I go again, I’ll have to wear turquoise again now!  On our starboard, ‘Ebony’ swam, several times extending the pectoral fins and giving us hope for a very close surfacing.  Curt tracked the animal for at least three minutes straight and in wonderment we gazed over the side, all poised and ready for the imminent split second action. Twice we worked with ‘Ebony’ like this.  A blue whale, in name and colour just below us kept our attention.

Deploying the LIMPET Tag on 'Ivory'.   Photo credit M. Jenner

Deploying the LIMPET Tag on ‘Ivory’.
Photo credit M. Jenner

The next surfacing had the two whales side by side, ‘Ebony’ just ahead of ‘Ivory’.  ‘This is it guys, we are going in!’ Curt instructed as he expertly manoeuvred Orca, putting ‘Ivory’ right beside us on the port side.  With a ‘whosh’ and surge the two whales came to the surface.  I had a great view of the whales and thought I had the camera wide, but suddenly when a grey body filled the viewfinder, I realised I was tight not wide.  Quickly zooming out, fortunately I was still able to get the sat-tag action.  ‘Yahoo!’ I called and ‘Tag Away!’ Curt excitedly called Dale and Inday on the VHF.  It was 1425 LT, this was the first deployment of a LIMPET tag on these WA pygmy blue whales and Simon got a biopsy as well!  Immediately, the sat tag arrow bounced away from the whale and the biopsy dart almost flew back at us!  Everyone scrambled, I got the notebook and took more photos and we turned off our GoPros. What a hoot!  I flung the biopsy bag towards Simon, past Curt, while clinging to the rifle, it was all go!  Straight away the shearwaters went for the biopsy sample, as I had predicted a few minutes previously.  With the PAXARM dart on board and the sat tag arrow retrieved, we were relieved!  We all looked crazy with all our cameras strapped everywhere!  In the end 4 GoPros, and 489 photos later this was a record our day!

While we bobbed there, getting help from Whale Song with the sightings, we recounted how things used to be.  I suggested imagining what our days in Mega, a 6 m zodiac, entailed during 6 years of work between 1999 and 2005.  Our work included a one hour commute to the Perth Canyon, a seven hour day with blues and then a one and a half to two hour return journey home.  Instead, today, we had a 5 minute trip back to Whale Song and with all the comforts of home right there.  My, how soft we are getting!

Back on board we tidied up data, re-charged batteries, I checked and catalogued all the photos and Russ split the biopsy sample, so that the fatty acids could be checked in the whale and the krill.  During our whale work, Lynnath’s team had collected chlorophyll data and krill samples, so a nice story can be made about the food web here in the PC.

I was thrilled to be reminded of why we do and love this work.  The underwater spectacular was very special and it was interesting to be reminded about the pock-marked skin of pygmy blue whales.  They are so deeply scarred from the ravages of cookie-cutter shark bites, that it almost feels impossible to hurt them, especially with these benign tags.  I enjoyed identifying whales by their dorsal fin shapes, happy in the uniqueness of each and every individual.

A tiny taste of chilled Brut Cuvee was a perfect toast to the first deployment of a LIMPET satellite tag on a pygmy blue whale in the Perth Canyon!  With full bellies of soy chicken, baked pork, steamed rice, mashed potato and salad, we enjoyed a fine dinner happy with the days’ activities.  Our beautiful meal was finished off with strawberries/cream and chocolate to celebrate! Around 9pm, I fell into bed before getting up for my 12-3 night watch.  Replete and satisfied with the day, thank you!

Mich

P.S. Please check out the next Blue Blog next Monday!

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