Beaked Whales Trilling Good Morning! (Written Jan 22, 2013)
Blackness shrouds Whale Song – the sky, again moonless and clouded over covers a matt black seascape. Looking down into our side-wash, tiny phosphorescent ostracods and other microscopic nekton and plankton twinkle. This light, apart from our own navigation lights, theirs is the only lightness around. It’s always fascinating pondering something as small as an ostracod, at 2mm across, are so effective in their biological brightness.
The change of motion of the boat wakes me at ten to 7 in the morning. Peering out our aft window I can see that the calmness evident on my watch has continued and we have an almost glassy sea with 90% cloud cover. Popping my head into the wheelhouse I ask Curt “Is it warm or cold?”, “It’s warm, now there’s a beaked whale that’s been seen, you better get out here with your camera”, he quickly replies. The short pants it is, I get ready fast and on deck with camera asap. We can hear and see unique calls on the sonobuoys which are similar to those recorded on the sunset and midnight monitoring, they are intriguing whistles. This is the first whale sighting of the SAAP! That is the Southern Australian Acoustic Profile. From the photos Inday captured the individual that Nic has found, appears to be a Grays’ beaked whale, (Mesoplodon grayi ) particularly identified by the white “strap” marking across the dark, pointed beak. The sounds are intriguing, v-shaped down and up-sweeps of high-pitched “whistles”. This is trilling and thrilling, we have added another animal to our collection of encountered, acoustically recorded and photo-identified cetaceans!
At 1130am the fly-bridge crew, Nic, Peta and Inday sight large splashes and glistening of an animal body way out wide. On the acoustics, upon deploying the mid-day sonobuoys early to capture the signals of this sighting, foraging sperm whale “clapping” sounds are recorded in the same direction. We are in whale country! Hot steaming bowls of tomato and vegetable soup with cheese and baguette take the edge off the Southern Ocean chill, despite the now bright sunshine. Ahead 1.25 nm I see a whole series of splashes, there are around 200 short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) travelling in a great hurry towards the area where the sperm whale claps are being made. Common dolphins usually love to bow ride vessels, but today they are on a mission. It’s likely they can hear the activities of the sperm whales and are interested in joining the feast, indeed, both of these species are rather partial to cuttlefish and squid. Also we have seen many floating cuttlefish bones already today . A few dolphin individuals swing past the bow quickly and briefly, only long enough for a few identifying pictures – that really was rather decent of them I thought!
Today, with sunlight overhead the ocean is a beautiful bright blue. Right here it’s 4720 m deep but peering down one can see scattered salps (small clear jellies) just beneath the sea surface and beyond that the light rays just go down… Way, way offshore is my favourite place… all around is blue, blue sea – how awesome! We are in the Southern Ocean and at around 2pm tomorrow we will be at a large concentration of chlorophyll, as seen on current remote sensing maps. We are now 145 nm directly south of Bremer Canyon and continue to be surprised by our glorious weather conditions. To make things even better, an adult Wandering Albatross continually circles us for over three hours! With each pass, I can match the patterns on the upper wings and unique notches in the flight feathers of this individual, what an incredible treat!
At dinner while munching beef and vegetables with steamed rice, baked potatoes, rocket salad and a tofu specialty for “the tofu girls”, we excitedly discuss the days’ events, namely, having a beaked whale seen and heard, sperm whales heard, a large pod of common dolphins and an endearing adult Wandering Albatross accompanying Whale Song most of the afternoon in the most beautifully calm weather. Sunset is another pearler and even a NZ fur seal makes an appearance popping up beside us! While finishing the second seating of dinner, booming blue whale calls come through the acoustics and even a bizarre unidentified signal we know as “the aliens” that we first recorded at Scott Reef in Western Australia! Tomorrow will be another fantastic day, this is for certain! Right now, the delights of being at sea are evident and the team is one very happy, excited bunch operating like a well-oiled machine 24 hours a day!
Till tomorrow! Mich
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