Sperm Whales On Monday Day 9 (Feb 08, 2016)
Around 2am, 6am and from 8am onwards sperm whale “hammering” dominated the towed array detections. Navy personnel didn’t call sperm whales “carpenter fish” without reason. Whole cities have been built by these whales! Noisy click trains filled the screen-‘These whales have to be nearby’ we all muttered to each other.
Filling the Screen. Sperm whale clicks fill the screen, 2345 per minute!
The tracks from the detections indicated 038 degrees and sure enough looking in that direction, Carrie saw a huge splash, most likely a full-bodied breach! A few minutes later, Curt saw three blows from one individual. We have company! Looks like sperm whales.
Right Beside The Boat. This whale surfaced so close I saw the top 1/10th arc of its’ blow through the wheelhouse windows!
Explaining and chatting with John about the great interest of our colleague John Bannister regarding sperm whale acoustic detections and visual encounters, particularly on the south coast and being over 40 years on from protection in 1978-fortuatously, I saw the top 1/10 arc of a cetacean blow… standing to see the rest, I plainly saw the long, light brown body of a sperm whale heading towards us, only 20m from Whale Song! ‘There is a blow right there!’ I said in my outside voice, inside. My excitement almost gave everyone heart troubles in the wheelhouse but Skipper and I quickly banished ourselves to the Portuguese bridge where I began firing photos away. This extreme exuberance is born from immense relief that hours, days and even months give way to a sighting of an animal right before my very eyes. For a second I take it in-then start running for my camera and out on deck. Of course, Skipper is running in circles around me, barking at my reaction. We, that is Skipper and I, are a bit much to take-you better have a strong heart aboard Whale Song!
Bachelor Herd Life. Two subadult male sperm whales travel together.
After taking id shots of the whale on our portside, Resty had another two sperm whales straight ahead. ‘I will name them KC and Gabs, for my children’ he informed as we slowly got closer. These two animals 12 and 13 m long, were juvenile males, their heads being relatively large, as shown by the marked dip 1/3 of the way along the dorsal surface of the body. They travelled together and all indications showed that this was a Bachelor Herd of young males, at least 6 of which we saw. Given the social clatter heard on the array providing pod cohesion, rather than hunting as during night-time, we believed there were perhaps 10, 20 or even 30 individuals in the vicinity, in this pod.
Riding the Waves. Subadult sperm whale travelling westward along the swell.
The sea calmed during the afternoon as we made a turn to starboard towards Cape Leeuwin. We shall be in the Perth Canyon tomorrow and then home soon thereafter!
Take care and keep cool,
Mich
No comments yet.