Day 10 Dolphin Heaven!

Day 10 Dolphin Heaven! (Written on June 10, 2013)

At midnight we are just south of Cape Northumberland, very close to the border between SA and Victoria.  Passing sweeping Discovery Bay with the light of Cape Northumberland flashing, I am certain southern right whales will be nestling inside this bay.  We are in 26 m of water crossing outside but remarkably the bay remains 20 m deep right up to the cliffs at Jackie’s Lookout and Smokey Ridge.  I wish I could see this area in daylight.  In fact, the whole coastline is stunning and interesting – yesterday on the chart we noticed a complex waterway behind the dunes recognised as  Canunda National Park, which looked great for adventuring.

Characteristic light markings on the dorsal fin show clearly as this short-beaked common dolphin leaps clear of the water. Photo credit M.Jenner

From the chart beyond Discovery Bay and past Cape Nelson, Portland Bay and the city of Portland is a hive of activity.  It’s 0136 in the morning and three vessels, seen by their AIS (Automatic Information System) signals, have just left the port and three others are alongside, perhaps loading or waiting to load goods.  Due to a suitable weather window we will pass Portland without stopping, but we think of our colleague Pete and his family Sooze and Felix at their beautiful bush retreat.

On deck to check the delightfully bright night sky, the stars are well-visible with only a tiny patch of cloud shrouding the horizon.  The constellation Scorpio showers stars downward, Antares the reddish star in the middle, twinkles in its’ usual manner.  Without warming cloud-cover, the air is chill and fresh, this northerly wind coming straight from the Centre of Australia.

As we move in/out of regular internet range we are amazed at the positive response regarding Indays’ Video Dairies and our blogs posted on our CWR website and CWR fb page.  With whales on the scene, we can collect awesome scientific and behavioural information represented in appealing and interesting moving and still images.   The stars are the animals – kindly appearing in exotic locales!  Watch out for Indays’ Video Diaries under our ‘Video Diaries’ tab on the main menu.

An adult and juvenile short-beaked common dolphin jump in time!
Photo credit M.Jenner

Rising an hour later than usual, my fellow crew kindly forgives.  Watch members that over-sleep usually need the extra if this occurs… I am hoping they do forget as well!  The wind is still northerly at 30 knots with a rousing 2-3m swell.  All is good on our good ship Whale Song.

At 0940 the first pod of short-beaked common dolphins swings by!  Resty sees them 20m on the starboard bow jumping towards us!  They surface on both sides of the bow porpoising, six animals stacked next to each other in the leap!  Skipper races to the bow barking and deliriously happy!  Looking back towards me on the Portuguese Bridge, his quizzical expression asks, “Where are you? Come on!”  I hesitate for a moment, we need to note the lat/long and I do need a jacket, it’s cool out.  Picking up my D300 camera with the wide-angle lens instead of the D800 camera body with the 400mm lens Inday with her movie camera and I, make our way to the bow.  “Here, they are Mich!  Wow, look at their jumps, just here!” Inday calls and begins filming, with a concentrated grin across her gorgeous face!

Skipper – ever on the look out!
Photo credit M.Jenner

On our return to the wheelhouse, Skipper and I catch the wave-of-the-year that sploshes over the gunwhale!  Skipper is sopping wet all over and I am drenched from head to toe down my back… my beloved D300 getting the worst bath of its’ life… But it appears ok after thorough attention.  I spend the next half hour drying Skipper playfully with a towel and getting myself a full set of dry clothes.  Ocean 1: Mich & Skipper 0.

The rest of the morning proceeds just the same.  A dolphin body or several dolphins sighted coming towards us cause an excited call, which gets Skipper racing forward to the bow and waiting for us to arrive!  Cameras are switched, jackets thrown on, a few photos are taken (only 803!) and Inday, Skipper and I get plenty of exercise carefully scurrying up/down the stairs, as well as,’ in advertently performing our “photography yoga”!  This Whale Song-named and well-honed practice, is the process whereby one holds difficult poses for extended periods of time while photographing or filming cetaceans.  Lunch is a brief interruption between dolphin pods, having spinach and ricotta quiche and salad with baguette, salami, sundried tomatoes and cheese.   Mid-mouthful, another pod appears and we do our bow-dance!

An Australasian Gannet shaking mid-air, its’ feathers all ruffled.
Photo credit M.Jenner

Albatross circle continuously, some from afar.  Intermittently others peer through the wheelhouse door, including Black-browed and Shy Albatross.  Tiny, pretty flitting Broad-billed Prions with white bellies and nicely marked upperwings, twist and turn sharply just above the waves.  At 1400 we are “sort of” nearing the coast, namely in the region of The Twelve Apostles in southern Victoria.  If we squint hard enough, we can see the area where the remaining seven rock-forms are present, five having been lost, not surprisingly, to swirling Southern Ocean erosion.  The Great Ocean Road winds its’ way along this spectacular coast, a drive Curt wishes to take me on in the future.

Despite the wings of this Shy Albatross being vertically oriented – their eyes are still on a horizontal plane!
Photo credit M.Jenner

The ride today has been very pleasant, (though very wet at one moment) and we are very glad that we are going East not West!  This sea and swell would be rather sloppy going t’other way.  As the sun sinks and the light has apricot overtures – hundreds of albatross duck and dive alongside equal numbers of gannets catching the up-lifts in the evening drafts.  When I show Curt a picture of a gannet, wet from a dive and shaking its’ whole body, he comments that he thinks the bird looks as if it has “put its’ overalls on backwards and is adjusting them”.  Right!  One never knows what one might see out here!  Birds and dolphins throughout the whole indicate a highly productive ocean.   Sadly, amongst the live birds, perhaps I capture six photos of a dead albatross.  At the surface I saw a large shape, perhaps 2m across.  In the centre, a white fluffy area was most likely the “belly” surrounded by two “wings” that curved semi-circularly, the head appeared to be underwater.  Black and white markings on each “wing” looked very distinct and interesting.  Very close examination of the photographs on Curts’ large computer screen will determine the animal in question.  Albatross sitting on the water, as we have observed several times today, could well be preyed upon by sharks from below and this could have been the case here.

A motionless shape floating in the water appears to be a dead albatross.
Photo credit M.Jenner

Reflecting on the day we are excited at all the dolphin sightings, 8 pods of approximately 150 animals, all healthy and robust individuals.  After dinner prepared by Dale of tasty, stir-through bacon pasta topped with fresh basil & grated parmesan with garden salad, we are all very satisfied and happy.  Skipper is absolutely exhausted with all the barking, stair climbing and dolphin excitement – he is totally passed out on a cushion on one of the round lounge chairs!  Note parents, this is helpful for getting small children to sleep well!  Just add the stairs and the dolphins!

Each day has its’ own flavour and today we were in Dolphin Heaven!  Here’s to hoping you had a lovely day too!

Mich