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We returned to Portland in the middle of the night and today we have enjoyed watching the white-caps from a café(s) in town. The break has also given us the opportunity to regroup and do some data archiving and review. Between us we have taken many thousands of photos of blue whales. Each blue whale has individual-specific markings in the mottled silvery-blue skin plus markings from cookie-cutter shark bites. Also, similar to humpback whales, the shape of the dorsal fin of blue whales is amazingly diverse. Having said that the changing light, the movement of the whale and the water flying everywhere makes it difficult to get photos good enough to reliably identify individual whales. It is also useful to photograph both sides of an individual because it is very difficult to match photos if they have been taken from different sides of the same animal. Anyway we will reconcile our small catalogue as best we can so we can spot if an individual is photographed again here in March by our second voyage team, by the Blue Whale Study Group who have been study whales of Portland for many years and hold an extensive catalogue, or by the group studying whales in Australia’s only other known feeding area - the Perth Canyon in Western Australia. The weather looks poor again tomorrow but the swell may drop enough by Monday for us to leave port again then. Unfortunately at this stage it looks like we may only get a couple of days at sea next week before we have to de-mob and head home.
REGARDS: Mike
Map
A map showing Australia and Antarctica. The map shows the journey of one voyage that has occured in the season, with each route highlighted in a distinct colour.