Whale Day Thursday!
At 0602 the boat speed slowed and and we changed course. Being an old salt, I know what this means! I stuck my head into the wheelhouse and enquired “Do we have whales?” A positive reply regarding cetaceans on the acoustic equipment had me further questioning “Shall I help look?” Yet another positive answer from Curt, had me scrambling for clothes and my toothbrush. Collecting my hat, sunglasses, a folded wholegrain vegemite sandwich, a folded piece of fruit bread smothered with marmalade (each loosely wrapped in a piece of kitchen towel) and with my camera case in the other hand, I tried to get ready as soon as possible. Preparing to collect as much information from these 8 minke whales, Curt and I assembled on the foredeck.
Sonobuoys provide an ear in the ocean and with cross bearings, we can fine tune the location of cetacean sounds, also known as “transients”. With the help of Skipper, Daffy deployed a sonobuoy from the midship boat-deck.
‘This is my favourite sort of out for breakfast’ I commented to Curt while munching on my folded bread sangas (=Australian slang for sandwiches). Out on the foredeck, following whales!
Minke whales are very hard to see from a distance, unless they are running, when they make big splashes. They generally have very faint blows and spend very little time at the surface, and then, with only the minimum of their body showing during their shallow dive sequence. Our first introduction to minke whales almost 30years ago, included the description of them as “slinky minke” whales, meaning they were were very shy and extremely elusive. The vocalising we were hearing, was of a ³growling² nature, similar to the sounds we heard on the sonobuoys when we were at the Great Barrier Reef working with Alistair Birtles, John Rumney and Russ Andrews, two years ago. Rather than the “ba-doing” sound, perhaps this could be their socialising vocalisation?
We have a minke whale and a pygmy blue whale calling on our gadget! Great day!
At the 0900 am sonobuoy deployment, we had 3 minke whales and three pygmy blue whales! We truly have whales today! Yea! By 1130, I had salmon and lettuce wraps ready to go for lunch (deliberately before the midday sonobuoy monitoring) and stepping into the wheelhouse at 1132, I saw a surging minke whale 2 nm on our starboard side. It was all on for young and old! We followed and observed a second surfacing of this porpoising and running minke whale. In the midday sonobuoy deployment we heard a minke whale ‘growling’, possibly the surging one and as well, a pygmy blue whale. Very determined, we monitored three sonobuoys and with some fancy maths from Rob and correcting for compass errors, Rob gathered cross bearings which Curt plotted on our nav screen, giving reference from the ship. A statement such as ŒThere is a whale that will surface within one nautical mile right off the bow² from the wheelhouse by Rob, had me heading for the top deck with my camera and Skipper in tow. Along the way, I passed the information to Daffy, keenly looking aft from the top deck. Within one minute of looking forward, the whole vessel witnessed a huge white billowy, blue whale blow break the surface! Yahoooooo! I jumped up and down – maths and sheer class had found this whale! Out of an ocean, it was plucked!
Members of the CWR team search for the minke whales we can hear calling, from left Carrie and Rob.
We followed slowly and I got photos from half a nautical mile away. The next surfacing was 19 minutes later, only a brief moment after Rob had popped his head out of the wheelhouse saying it had stopped calling. At our relative four o¹clock position, the whale surfaced having 7 blows. In the wheelhouse, Curt had described this animal as huge and pregnant. Later before dinner, as I looked through my photos on the computer, I ran up the stairs into the wheelhouse to say the same thing! Being on deck at the time, I was unaware of his comments and it was great that we both came to the same conclusion independently! On her way north, this whale is destined for the Banda Sea, we wish her well in her journey and safe passage with her calf. She was the largest pygmy blue whale we have ever seen. Every part of her body was lumpy, extra round and at least twice as large, as any other pygmy blue whale we have encountered in the last 16 years. She was carrying the next generation withinŠ We sincerely hope she prospers in this mission.
Ah huh, the maths worked, well done Rodney and Rob! With Rodney’s Super Blue Whale Finder and some super maths by Rob, we found this pygmy blue whale! Hardly small, this animal was 22 m long and with such a large girth, we presume it was pregnant. We wish the next generation well!
For sunset, we were treated to a spread-out pod of false killer whales and common offshore bottlenose dolphins! Wow, could the day get any better? Well, a quick trip to Morocco for our evening meal would suffice! Dave’s spiced bbq chicken, couscous spinach,tomato and sultana salad and panini bread with balsamic vinegar and olive oil was perfect!
With another spectacular sunset we celebrated a whale of a day!
Mich
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