Song of the Whale Diary: 13th - 14th June

Friday 13th June
Written by Patty
It's a great sailing day with one reef and genoa and with nice south-west winds. During the day the sightings are not abundant due to the high swell. Nevertheless, some sperm whales clicks are recorded as we pass over the last seamount. There are also some nice sightings of sea birds and turtles and the always present Portuguese man-of-war. The day is tranquil with falling pressure until the afternoon when a dark and cloudy sky brings us rain and lightning! A big echo is suddenly heard on the headphones, and in time we notice that a big red cargo ship is crossing behind us. As has been habitual for the last few days, we enjoy the meal as “gourmets”. Today’s Swedish duet is Magnus cooking dinner and Niklas on the deserts (chocolate-coconut cookies!). Even in sea state 5 conditions, our mobile conference room is really useful and Nienke gives us a nice talk after dinner showing us the biodiversity of the Azorean Archipelago that was the subject of her Master's thesis. Later, with more than 25 knots of wind the mainsail is dropped and we continue with the genoa until the next morning when the wind drops again. During the night, Tim hears beaked whales, the first detection since we left Tenerife a week ago. They are clearly audible, the clicks are long and very different from those made by other Odontocetes. The duration is 200µs and the inter-click interval is very typical. The beaked whales are there!

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Saturday 14th June
Written by Magnus
Early in the morning we still have some beaked whales on the headphones but they soon disappear and the weather deteriorates into lightning and rain. We have following winds through the night and squalls keep passing over us tracked by the radar. In the morning we put the main sail back up and are joined by a big group of playful spotted dolphins. During the day the wind eases and veers west and pressure rises. It seems like the high pressure system that normally is associated with the Azores is back. Unfortunately we soon have to start the engine because the wind more or less disappears. But the sighting conditions improve. Although we don’t see anything major until late evening, we pick up a big group of sperm whales on the hydrophones. It’s a very vocal group with a lot of creeks and even a few “clangs”, a really powerful click made by the males probably as a display for the females and other males.

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