Information
Comments
We are now back in port - the weather has defeated us and we will not be able to get out to sea again before the end of this charter. After travelling a long way east yesterday we did not hear any whales and so as the wind picked up we went south and then west knowing we may have to dash back to port. The acousticians had a very slow night with two shifts of no calls at all. It was only as we approached Portland that we finally detected a whale. It had been a rough night and few of us had slept well. At dawn both the sea and sky were grey with a 3m rolling swell, a strong southerly wind and lots of white-caps. This was far from ideal sighting conditions and it reminded many of us of our time peering into the gloom on an Antarctic voyage. To find the whale in this murk will require good acoustic cross-bearings and a bit of luck. After launching a second sonobuoy and lots of calls from this very vocal whale we got a series of cross bearings. With a rough location and direction of movement we identified an intercept point and hoped. It did take a bit of searching, back tracking and our brave sightings teams getting wet on the foredeck but we found our whale – a triumph for both our acoustic and sightings teams. That was enough for today – the conditions were miserable and we were keen to end our voyage on a high note. Well that’s it from Whale Voyage One – we’ve all had a wonderful time with the blue whales of the Bonney – it’s been a great lesson for both the next voyage here in March and for future work with the Southern Ocean Research Partnership’s Antarctic Blue Whale Project.
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.