At Sea
The hydrophone was lowered through the Panama thimble in the bow of the Endeavour. We intended to listen in on the pod of short-finned pilot whales that clustered nearby. It wouldn’t have been difficult to imagine one pilot whale exclaiming to another, ‘this ship was here two years ago in exactly this place. Why do suppose they’re here again?”
A fanciful conversation, no doubt, but the Endeavour was very near where two years before we had seen a pod of pilot whales. Indeed, the year before that, pilot whales had been encountered in this same place as well. We wondered if we had spied the same pod this year as in the two earlier years. Unfortunately, without marked individuals, we would never know but that did not detract from the excitement that ran through the ship.
The pod had been spotted well ahead and all made their way to the bow to watch the whales slowly move through the water. Since they are night time feeders, they were just relaxing near the surface. We benefited from their relaxation.
There was at least one large male among the 48 whales that were counted, and there were a few very small ones that looked as though they had been born recently. As the ship circled the whales, a Zodiac was lowered with the splash cam team on board to see if some underwater images could be obtained. Later, during recap those images helped us understand the grace that pilot whales have under water.
The sea had been calm with no white caps and only a light breeze all during the day. We saw many Bulwer’s Petrels, a large flock of Sooty Terns and, even, a Portuguese man-of-war jellyfish. During the morning a Parasitic Jaeger had flown across the bow and attacked a storm petrel. Two ships passed across our bow. We continued our path toward Peter and Paul Rocks. We savored a wonderful day at sea with images of pilot whales firmly in our memory.
The hydrophone was lowered through the Panama thimble in the bow of the Endeavour. We intended to listen in on the pod of short-finned pilot whales that clustered nearby. It wouldn’t have been difficult to imagine one pilot whale exclaiming to another, ‘this ship was here two years ago in exactly this place. Why do suppose they’re here again?”
A fanciful conversation, no doubt, but the Endeavour was very near where two years before we had seen a pod of pilot whales. Indeed, the year before that, pilot whales had been encountered in this same place as well. We wondered if we had spied the same pod this year as in the two earlier years. Unfortunately, without marked individuals, we would never know but that did not detract from the excitement that ran through the ship.
The pod had been spotted well ahead and all made their way to the bow to watch the whales slowly move through the water. Since they are night time feeders, they were just relaxing near the surface. We benefited from their relaxation.
There was at least one large male among the 48 whales that were counted, and there were a few very small ones that looked as though they had been born recently. As the ship circled the whales, a Zodiac was lowered with the splash cam team on board to see if some underwater images could be obtained. Later, during recap those images helped us understand the grace that pilot whales have under water.
The sea had been calm with no white caps and only a light breeze all during the day. We saw many Bulwer’s Petrels, a large flock of Sooty Terns and, even, a Portuguese man-of-war jellyfish. During the morning a Parasitic Jaeger had flown across the bow and attacked a storm petrel. Two ships passed across our bow. We continued our path toward Peter and Paul Rocks. We savored a wonderful day at sea with images of pilot whales firmly in our memory.
