Cool enough for Albatross (Nov 27, 2015)
With only relatively light winds (12-15-18 knots) and a few white caps, the view on deck is quite tempting, especially with the light-toned sky. The bit that is not tempting, however, is the cool air! It feels as though we are heading to the Antarctic again… now, that would be tempting!
I am having a hick-up with software, so must resort to a blog of just words. Things will all be fine once we get back in internet range. The internet rules our lives – even out at sea! While transferring words from sat email to our website, unforeseen and random formatting issues creep in – we ask for your understanding of this situation.
Heading south-east for the last week or so, we have now dipped below the latitude of Fremantle. We have circumnavigated a High on the Indian Ocean, as sailors of old often attempted – and this has really worked! Been quite the Indian Ocean romp! By nine-thirty in the morning the blue sky and sea had totally changed. Heading towards cumulonimbus (rain-bearing clouds) will do that! Gentle rain fell making “white noise” on the array and nicely washing the salt spray from the wheelhouse windows.
A few sperm whale clicks were detected just afer dinner last night but we were not treated to the feeding frenzy experienced a few night’s back. Resty is addicted to the clatter and disappointed when it was quiet, “I like it-it’s very entertaining!” he says. Our track line today crossed some very convoluted bathymetry – thus far we have had some beaked whale detections and a few possible sperm whale clicks, but as well, Dale noticed a very strong biomass layer on the shoulder of the canyon above which we crossed.
The common dolphins which began whistling just 8 minutes before the end of my watch last night, continued into the next, Dale and Sam hearing them for another hour and a half. They obviously had a lot to say! Swirls and twirls romped across the screens visualising the lovely sounds, similar in tone to many simultaneous games of Chinese whispers amongst an excited group of a hundred or so party-goers.
Through that rain shower and we were back into the blue again – phew! By early afternoon the 7-10 knot breeze proved irresistible and Curt readied his quad-copter to film Whale Song. This water is “lovely blue”, it is 3000m deep and has a slightly more green tone compared with the “impossible blue” water we have experienced in areas of 5000 m bathymetry. Next year, we will colaborate on an oceanographic expedition and ocean colour will be an aspect I will be mosty interested to learn about. The catch by Sam on the foredeck of the quad-copter was priceless – a real “mark”! Just like catching the ball in footy – he leapt up and plucked the quad-copter from the air to safety. The return home is always interesting, made less terrifying with the floating capability of this model, but we have the 400 m towed array deployed… Eek! It could have got very messy. Fortunately, the landing was good and yet again the footage is incredible. Curt is gathering quite the library of spectacular vision from above, in exotic locales. Whale Song is crossing a blue marble with nobody out here but us chickens. “We are alone!”, as Resty says.
Blue Marble
Our planet earth
Is but a blue marble
Upon which we daily marvel
Seventy-one percent covered
In mysterious ocean
Of constant motion
Wind, currents and tide
Constantly changing
Nutrients exchanging
Place and time
Form warp and weft
Carefully look for secrets left
Makes a 3 and 4D “cloth”
Of where, when and of which
Fancy cetacean “stitch”
Around, around this blue marble
Across open ocean basins roam
The place we all call home.
(Written by Micheline Jenner)
The large body of a bird could be seen from over a mile away. Racing down from the top deck (the flybridge) to get my camera, the albatross ducked and weaved its’ way over the waves, towards us. Around our stern and riding the lifted air, I noted the black eye “make-up”, the grey markings on the head and looked carefully at the underwing pattern. With the lift of its’ wings, the characteristic black notch was clearly seen – it’s a Shy Albatross! I love being in the presence of albatross. If we have albatross, no wonder we are thinking it is cold. This is simply perfect albatross weather.
At 1810 we turned and have now begun our easterly run home to Fremantle. We’ll be there in 5 days, with lots of whale-looking in between!
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