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Overnight the acoustic team tracked the singing blue whales but by sunrise it was clear the whales were once again deep within the ice. We patrolled the ice edge at the closest point to the whales and although we saw tall blows in the distance none were accessible. Instead we turned our attention to collecting biopsies from humpback whales as a contrast to the samples collected around the Balleny Islands. This went well with three biopsies collected quickly from two pods of whales.
Given the inaccessibility of the blue whales we decided to leave this area and start our transit back to New Zealand. We are hoping we will detect another aggregation of blue whales well clear of the ice.
After several hour of transit we cleared a thick band of ice to the north of the blue whale hotspot. Then, as the light was fading, we sighted many tall blows on the horizon which turned out to be several large mixed pods of fin and humpback whales feeding very close to the surface.
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.