Morning Dolphin Yoga (October 15, 2015)
Cruising the Geelvink Channel (between Geraldton and the Houtman Abrolhos Islands) vessel traffic is inshore, closer to the coast. The stars are bright and beautiful. Seeing them sparkling just so, makes me want to take some star sights as well as looking at these state of the art screens. Being a bit of a technological luddite, I am intrigued that in this day and age of hi-tech tools and equipment, mechanical objects, like our sextant and little weather station can still contribute significantly. These are simple but useful tools, that don’t turn on or off, which pepper our loves amongst the power-hungry zippy electronics of todays’ world. A couple of other mechanical items that have lasted the test of time are the papyrus and graphite comprising my ‘hard-drive’, being my ever-present notebook with pencil. Of course, being a lead-finger in the digital age, I now have an affinity with real hard-drives and image storage – my how digital photography has revolutionised our research work.
As we venture offshore we maintain links with shore via satellite email learning about Christmas Island our destination and planning logistics with friends that are now locals. This ancient seamount reaching 4500 m above the seafloor in the middle of the Indian Ocean is an absolutely fascinating place. What a treat to visit. We truly love our work.
Spectacular Leap! Perched at the bow it was exciting to see this beautiful leap by these Common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)!
Passing Geraldton in the middle of the night and getting into regular mobile range, some photos came through on my phone of Skipper with Sally, a sweet little female Jack Russell owned by the family from whom we got Skipper ten years ago. The photos made me chuckle – Sally thoroughly likes Skippers’ bed and toys, so he takes a lap on the couch or the dining chair while dinner is served! Perhaps not minding her advances otherwise, Skipper seems to be taking the least line of resistance. This looks like the makings of the movie ‘When Skipper Met Sally’! Thanks Kellie and Danny for making Skipper so welcome.
On deck early at ten after 6 in the morning, the call from Curt regarding dolphins was welcome. On the bow, 8 Common bottlenose dolphins, the big and stocky offshore variety, Tursiops truncatus, squeaked and vigorously leapt for half an hour. Hundreds of photos later, I was thrilled to see some nice ones including a few interestingly capturing the water parting as they surfaced with such flourish. Thirty minutes of leaning over the bow holding my body still, while maintaining a gorilla grip on the camera constitutes my favourite morning “dolphin yoga” session! Upon review in the wheelhouse for editing/culling, I smiled at the images and revelled in the privilege. Skipper would have enjoyed that experience. I visualised his face, all smiles while at the same time exhausted and resting on the couch cushions!
All Lined Up. At least 6 dolphins cruise the bow!
Pretty soon it 3pm I realised I had been in the wheelhouse for 9 hours. The day was full of activity – I had made one of the four daily BOM weather observations, maintained ships’ watch and looked for whales all the while. A second pod of dolphins in the afternoon provided more “dolphin yoga”, as these 10 offshore dolphins rode our bow, zigzagging through half kilometre-long mustard-coloured streaks across the ocean. These brown algae blooms of Trichodesmium, (known colloquially as tricky-dicky) are dead algae which occurs after periods of warm air temperatures and calm sea conditions.
Only one humpback whale cow/calf was observed all day. We suspect the rest of the pods are further inshore towards the coast. We shall await deeper water before deploying our towed array for 24 hour ocean listening.
Feeling dolphin joyful!
Mich
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