Song of the Whale Diary: June 29th - July 3rd

Sunday 29 June 2008
Monday 30 June 2008
Tuesday 1 July to Thursday 3 July

Sunday 29 June 2008
Written by Mat
We start early, lifting the anchor at five in the morning. It looks like it is going to be a great day for sightings, hopefully of those elusive beaked whales. As time goes on, and watches change little is seen or heard on the hydrophones. Early afternoon a heat haze arises making it difficult for the shore station to point the Song of the Whale in the right direction for animals. So later on in the afternoon the decision is made to head back to the anchorage and most of the team head ashore in the zodiac to watch the football and take a welcome break from the boat.

Monday 30 June 2008
Written by Jeppe
Due to bad weather conditions the SOTW moves from its anchor spot outside Lajes and heads towards the Island of Faial and the harbour of Horta. Under these weather conditions it becomes almost impossible to sight any cetaceans and especially beaked whales, which are our priority and the main reason for being here at the Azores. After a few hours motoring we arrive at Horta which was going to be our “home” the next 18-19 hours. The rest of the day we organise shopping, make some small repairs do some laundry, received a new hydrophone (and spend a few hours uncoiling it), talk with curious people stopping by the SOTW and have a splendid two course meal prepared by Olly. The day ends with a little bit of rain, which most of the “green habitats” of the Azores must enjoy. The crew members of the boat enjoy their bunks and maybe dream about the next couple of days and the adventures ahead of them?

Tuesday 1 July to Thursday 3 July 2008
Written by Olly
We are rudely woken at 4am as Richard fires up the engine and we slip our lines to head back to the South of Pico. It soon becomes apparent the stable weather of the ‘Azores high’ has vanished as we battle eastward through choppy seas. After arriving in Lajes, we spend Tuesday and Wednesday transiting offshore accompanied by the land team’s steady vigil. Unfortunately we do not encounter any beaked whales, although we have routine sightings of sperm whales, pilot whales and five other dolphin species. We are also fortunate enough to approach a pygmy sperm whale, a notoriously ‘boat shy’ species that can be incredibly hard to see from a boat. On Tuesday afternoon we are privileged to have Malcolm Clark on board. Malcolm has been a leading light in squid research and settled in the Azores after becoming fascinated by the interaction between sperm whales and their fleshy prey. Malcolm has set up a fantastic museum in Sao Joao to honour this extraordinary relationship between predator and prey and we spend a couple of hours browsing through the detailed exhibits and intriguing sample jars. Wonderful! On Wednesday afternoon we leave Pico and return to Faial as we have a crew change on Thursday. So it’s adeus to Richard, Filipe and Andrea; bom dia to Bridget, Tristan Thorne (our new second mate/technician) and Katie Saunders (who has recently started her PhD in Southampton University).

Although radically different in size, the 3m pygmy sperm whale (top) can appear very similar at the water surface to its much larger cousin, the 12m sperm whale (bottom).

A Risso’s dolphin leaps clear of the water.

Visual-acoustic surveying involves detecting cetaceans by ear and by eye, as ably demonstrated by Richard and Andrea.