Aug 29, 2014
Hey, this is the real August 29th! I must have entered a time warp when going into Broome the other day – I came out 2 days ahead! You will be pleased to know I am safely back in the normal world! But what is normal?, we may ask!
The mornings are staying dark longer, as we head south towards the beginning of spring in the temperate zone, rather than winter in the tropics. These are two extremely different worlds. We shall try to adapt.
Concerned about towing the array through shallow Shark Bay we opted for outside, instead. Beyond that is – the islands of Bernier, Dorre and Dirk Hartog, which form the natural western barrier of Shark Bay. It was interesting over the course of the day, to see the whales travelling on the depth contours offshore of the islands. Mostly pods migrating south were recorded, with a couple of humpback whale pods still northbound.
Skipper was deliriously happy with the spinner dolphins bow-riding!
Some splashing and crashing near Whale Song turned out to be dolphins, Spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris). Incoming! As they approached our bow, they leapt clear of the water racing forward. Soon in a huge dense bunch, they settled on the bow, swimming on our bow-wave. Skipper was beside himself with joy and excitement and variously looked from the fairleads, either port or starboard. He then barked and looked and then looked and barked some more! Their fine, slim bodies rolling and leaping gracefully reminded me that these are the dainty ballerinas of the dolphin world! Fine, long beaks as described by their scientific name, broke the calm surface of the water. Strong, but streamlined bodies – two deep and seven across, 15 at a time, they twisted and twirled beneath our bow. In the quarter of a mile near Whale Song, around 100 spinner dolphins leapt and cavorted, their fine bodies, very beautiful in the clear, calm water. After 14 minutes and 372 photos, they left the bow pronto-pronto. It was all over. We were all happy, almost everyone had come to the bow and Skipper was indeed very, very happy! He does love a good bark with dolphins! As you do!
Lunch of Greek salad prepared by Dale, (does he want a chef’s hat next?), with tasty but almost jaw-breaking baguette and fresh pineapple was delicious! Thank you! The afternoon whale sightings progressively increased, with a few photo opportunities as we neared the main exit from Shark Bay near Turtle Bay at the northern end of Dirk Hartog Island. May I commend the very imaginative bay naming in this region!
‘Remember, just keep the land on your left pec, love when we’re heading south! Just another couple of thousand miles to the fridge, love!’
By sunset, we had 42 humpback pods recorded, a pretty ok day on the Humpback Highway. It was nice seeing pairs travelling close together. I imagined a few funny statements they might have been communicating! From Resty’s galley for dinner, we had chicken legs with pineapple/carrots, jasmine steamed rice and spinach salad which was yummy, and then more mud cake, since we are down a few vacuums, there is still some cake left! Wow!
We shall travel outside the Abrolhos Islands tomorrow and are set for arrival in Fremantle on Monday!
Take care,
Mich
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