Aug 28, 2014
Looking out our window I had an inkling we must be near Ningaloo and sure enough as I prepared my breakky, there were the VLF towers and Vlamingh Head – as plain as day, right there! We shall have the whole day at Ningaloo with whales, what wonderful timing!
With 24 pods on our computer datasheet before 8 am, Carrie and I knew we would have a busy day! With a team effort sighting whales, we entered the data in a revised computer software package Logger 2010, which is great! Eggs and bacon (beer-can in the Windies) with tomatoes, lettuce, camembert cheese and rustic baguette, meant we were momentarily in heaven for lunch! I ate in fits and starts between noting and photographing pods, sending the noon weather data and Carrie reporting the humpback whales chirping on the sonobuoys. We are collecting data from sonobuoys deployed every 6 hours, as well as acoustic detections around the clock from the towed array, using PAMGUARD software.
Humpback whales head south near Ningaloo Reef beneath the gaze of old and wise Cape Range.
The “Ningaloo Jamboree”, as we always encounter in this region, being a bottleneck for humpback whales migrating north and southward, entails a wonderful cacophony of humpback songs beside Ningaloo Reef. These singing males, are vying for available females with persuasive, plaintive and presumably terribly appealing songs. Today, as we have for the last few days, the sounds are piped through speakers in the wheelhouse from the array, 24 hours a day. It is simply delightful to hear the sounds of the sea! Dolphins buzzed the array which appeared as multiple vertical lines and an audible fast clicking. The humpback songs heard today had many moan and groan components and were very comptemplative-sounding, one might say. While looking for whales and listening for whales (a lovely mix), I found myself saying a few times ‘Oh, it’s alright… it’s not that bad, surely’ in response to the wailing by the collective Ningaloo Jamboree whales! Maybe it really is that bad… I suppose life can’t all be beer and skittle for whales. They must find friends, keep friends and then care for calves when they come along. No mean feat, across thousands of miles of open oceans and across international borders.
At our survey COB in the wheelhouse today, half an hour before sunset, we had logged 117 pods of humpback whales (over 300 individuals), plying the waters off Ningaloo. What a red letter day! Nice whales and nice scenery – thanks for our fourth Ningaloo Jamboree!
In sunset light, the blows from a pair of still northbound humpback whales, appear yellow-hued.
Smells of roasting something has filled our nostrils for most of the late afternoon… the tigers in my tank are protesting loudly and soon I shall have to quell them with something more than thoughts! Thank you Resty, for looking after us so well! We get so busy with whales and tied up doing things and he just kindly fills our bellies with all manner of tasty treats! Very soon the call, ‘Dinner is ready!’ came, so we flocked to see the menu! Roast lamb with sweet potatoes and carrots, bok choy and salad satisfied and even mud cake and cream, celebrated our big whale survey day!
Tomorrow, we will be heading into Shark Bay from the north and exiting to the west, past Turtle Bay on Dirk Hartog Island – we will see a multitude of whales there! Sleep well Carrie tonight, we shall have another big day on the briny!
Mich
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