Song of the Whale Diary: 19th - 24th September

Friday 19th September
Saturday 20th – Tuesday 23rd September
Wednesday 24th September


Friday 19th September
Today is a really unusual day for us. It’s the last day of filming with Stefan and Andreas and they have hired a helicopter from Funchal to take some aerial shots of the boat. Our plan is to communicate via VHF radio from the helicopter to the boat but we also have a plan B if the communication fails. So, we set out from Funchal at about 12pm and wait for the helicopter to take off. We see it coming from a distance and start to put up our sails. One of the shots the film crew wants is SOTW in full sail. The day is perfect – enough wind and beautifully sunny with just a few clouds. Astrid skilfully manoeuvres the boat as the helicopter rushes past us back and forth creating all sorts of strange winds. The helicopter is also incredibly loud and comes much closer to us than we imagined. After 45 minutes of sailing, tacking and taking the sails down again the helicopter makes it’s final ‘fly past’ and heads off back to Funchal. All in all the whole experience is really good fun…

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Saturday 20th – Tuesday 23rd September
Our time in Madeira has now come to an end. After Claire arrives back to the boat, early on Saturday evening, we leave Machico for the last time to begin our passage down to the Canary Islands, where we will conclude our field season. There are only 6 of us for the passage (Astrid, Mat, Claire, Bridget, Olly and Nienke), since it is only a short trip. The wind is (unusually) about perfect for the trip and so we have a good sail. We are not really in a hurry as we have more time allowed for this trip than we need, and we are hoping to stop at the Salvagem islands on the way down. Unfortunately, when we get to the islands, there is too much of a swell running for us to be able to anchor, and so we sail onwards. We don’t have too many sightings on our way down, a few groups of spotted dolphins only, until we get to Tenerife. As we are approaching the harbour where we will refuel, we pass a large group of pilot whales – must be several hundred individuals – spread out and resting at the surface. This is a rather nice end to the trip. By lunchtime on Tuesday, we are alongside in Las Galletas. Here we will wait for our new crew before heading down to El Hierro for the end of our field season.

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Wednesday 24th September
Today is our crew changing day. Bridget and Astrid are off home, and 4 people are coming out – Richard, Jeppe (from St Andrews, who was with us earlier this year), Vassilli (from IFAW) and Antonella (from SEACAC). Jeppe and Antonella don’t arrive until late, by which time all the cleaning and shopping is done – we will leave tomorrow.

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