Orca, humpback, fin, minke and sei whales

Wednesday 11th January 2006

We changed course towards the southwest today and began ‘leg 12’, the first of our transects crosscutting the slope and shelf waters of the Antarctic coast. Until now we have had uninterrupted whale observations. However protocol dictates that we can not observe when stopped on CTD station (which, depending on the depth can take up to 4 hours each). So the next 9 days will be filled with interruptions for us, as we only observe on full effort when moving between CTD stations. However there is always one of the whale team monitoring up on the bridge.

Stopping on CTD stations, of course, also has a plus side – we can catch up on some lost sleep that working from sun-up to sun-down has meant that we have missed out on until now. We also have more time to enjoy life on the ship. As well as a small gymnasium and a cracking sauna, the expeditioners have been organizing various classes – stretching, Spanish, salsa – for those who have a few spare hours to whittle away.

Thursday 12th

I just saw my first minke whales of the voyage!! We were stopped on a CTD station and the 2nd Officer and chief navigator, Timmy, spotted the blows on my shift. We watched them for a few minutes as they moved off to the port side of the ship. Blowing and showing us their dorsal fins.

Friday 13th

Friday the 13th got off to a good start with Timmy telling me on my arrival at the bridge at 5am that he’d already seen whale blows within a couple of hundred metres. During the morning we had blows off both sides of the ship, some of them were incredibly tall - as Jason Gedamke, the Australian Antarctic Division’s on board acoustician, was hearing humpback and blue whales, we may have been seeing these animals.

I was about to tuck into a plate of orange jelly at lunchtime when the call went out that killer whales were approaching the ship! Half the ship raced up to the bridge (5 storeys up from the mess). The killer whales were chasing along beside us, a pod of 8 – 12 animals including a big male, keeping up with ease. One cheeky orca ducked back into the wake of the ship and surfed to the portside of us for a good 10 minutes, keeping the crowds on board entertained as they focused and clicked with binoculars, cameras and videos. What a wonderful encounter and a fond memory of these incredible whales! There are three types of killer whales found in the Antarctic and I suspect that this pod were Type B, the seal-eating kind.

Saturday 14th

The days just keep getting better and better. It was a fabulous still morning when we began effort at 5am. The water was almost mirror like, clouds were fluffy around the horizon, with a red sun rise peeking through and then the clouds fish-scaled across the whole of the sky. We first spotted distant killer whales, then a rooster-tailing minke, followed by a close minke surfacing regularly as it passed right beside us. Then once we had stopped on a CTD station, a group of 3 sei whales passed within 400 metres on our starboard side – the first time I have confidently identified this species.

We saw our first Antarctic petrels today. This caused much excitement with Adrian and Andrew, the 2 birdo’s on the bridge. The beautiful black and white petrels circled above my head, coming close to check me out as I stood up on the top of the starboard side of the ship, looking out for whales. To round off the day we had tofu stir fry for dinner, followed by a delicious and moist ginger and pear pudding. I had a big smile on my face at the end of my day – with all these early starts bedtime is 8 pm for me!

Sunday 15th

We were in a great storm this evening. The ship was rolling from side to side so violently that everything that wasn’t secured ended up falling off whatever it was on, and sliding backwards and forwards across the floor. It was fun on the bridge, holding on, watching the swell crash over the bow of the ship as we pitched up and down from the bottom of one wave and then up and over the top of the next one. It was a restless night for many, as we slid up and down in our bunks.

Monday 16th

The storm abated overnight. It was eerily still at first light, and we were engulfed in thick fog. As we moved through banks of fog, it rolled in and out again during the day. One minute we could hardly see the front of the ship and the next we could see the horizon, almost 10 nautical miles away. It didn’t make for good whale observing! We spent much of the day rushing up to the bridge to begin work only to get into position just in time to watch the fog close in around us. However we enjoyed having a bit of time off and we had a wonderful end to the day. The ships’ doctor, Caff, saw a pod of 5 distant humpbacks blowing about 4 miles away, then a sei whale popped up in front of them much closer to the ship at about 2 miles, and then just minutes later, a mother and calf humpback whale crossed the path of the ship and surfaced to the side of us within a couple of hundred metres. What a terrific end to the day!

Tuesday 17th

I was doubtful when I looked out of my cabin porthole this morning, but I put on my layers of clothes and headed up for watch. We managed to sight three pods of fin whales before breakfast! Seeing the enormous blows of these pods of between 4 and 8 animals each was an incredible treat. Jason dropped a sonobuoy in and was hearing them too and that was even better! We’ve been at sea for two weeks now and even though we haven’t seen any ice yet, we’ve already had 35 sightings so far. We are making good progress on leg 12 as we continue to travel west. It should only be a couple of days now until we take a left hand turn and head down towards the continent and into the Ice !!

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