January 2010 After 32 days of no sightings...a sperm whale sighting 2 days before heading home

I was starting to doubt whether there were any marine mammals in the Gulf of Mexico but finally after 32 days of looking at the water we had a sperm whale sighting. It was mid-morning and I was sitting on the starboard bridge wing on watch and listening to a podcast when suddenly the MMO from the port side came over yelling at me that there was a whale. We felt a little bit scattered as having not seen anything for quite a while we were a little out practice on our sightings procedures!

I ran over to her side and she pointed out to where she had seen the last surfacing approximately 1 km off our port bow. I immediately called the Harrier's instrument room on the radio to let the seismic crew know that we may have to call for a shut down of the airguns if the whale came within 500 meters of them. Then I spoke with the MMOs on the ships off our port and starboard sides to let them know we had seen the whale so they knew to keep there eyes open for the possibility that they would have to shut down.

The whale's next surfacing was between us and one of the other ships about 700 meters off our port side. It surfaced about 3 times and then went for a deep dive and that was the last we saw of it. It was my first really good look at a sperm whale and I was able to get some distant photographs of the whale's dorsal hump (sperm whales don't have a distinct dorsal fin) and the tail fluke as it dove. Following are some photographs from this sighitng and some photos from the last couple of days before I went home after 5 weeks at sea.

Following 3 photos: the sperm whale that surfaced between the two ships. It's a bit tough to see but it is in line a bit astern of the other ship.

Approaching a rig for a close pass

Oil Rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Such strange looking things...especially at night!

Rig flare during a close pass in the early morning

The Harrier Explorer, my home for the past 5 weeks, with the crew boat that transferred us off for our crew change...homeward bound!

The work boat that took us to shore...six hours of nice seas and sun!

A very poor shot of a group of bottlenose dolphins we saw on the way back to shore. This was our third group of dolphins we saw on the way in. We also saw a couple of Risso's dolphins and a mother/calf spotted dolphin pair that were bowriding for a few minutes. Very nice way to end the trip :-)

The following photos were taken during my flights from Houston to San Francisco and then on to Victoria

I loved this 'giant foot'

Nearly home...we flew over Port Angeles just before heading across the Strait of Juan De Fuca and on to Victoria

December 16, 2009 to January 23, 2010 First MMO rotation in the Gulf of Mexico

On December 16 I flew from Victoria to Houston, Texas where I was to start my first five week rotation as a marine mammal observer on the Harrier Explorer, as seismic research vessel, in the Gulf of Mexico. I was pretty exhausted when I arrived as I was up at 3 am to fly from Victoria to Vancouver and then from Vancouver on to Houston. I wasn't nearly as tired as the rest of the ship's crew most of who flew either from the UK, Sweden, the Ukraine, Russia and the Phillipines. After we met at the airport we were bussed to our hotel in Houston where we were to stay the night before heading to the ship in Galveston the following morning. There was no rest for the wicked as after a brief meeting, dinner and a few drinks I had to head to bed for another early morning; our bus to take us to the ship anchored off Galveston would be departing at 4 am the next morning.   

My hotel room in Houston...a little comfort before heading out to sea for 5 weeks

Our last opportunity for a drink before heading offshore...the bar/restaurant in the hotel

The following morning we were picked up for the hour and a half busride to Galveston. It was a very quiet bus ride as most of us were still sleepy from a seemingly too-short night's sleep (or too late with too many drinks!). Upon arriving at the port we were escorted to the awaiting transfer boat and then taken on the 20 minute ride out to the Harrier Explorer which was at anchor just outside the port. Normally the Harrier Explorer and the other vessels continue doing survey work, about 80 miles off the coast, while crew transfers occur via helicopter but the ship came in due to heavy seas so we did not go by helicopter this time. Once we were onboard we received our handover information from the crew we were replacing, which inlcuded my fellow whale nerd friend Jacklyn Barrs (we won't be seeing each other for about 6 months because we are on exactly opposite rotations for this job :-( , and received our cabin assignments. We had a ship's safety and orientation tour, during which I had a my first sighting...a group of bottlenose dolphins were swimming alongside the ship just as it was getting underway.  We would not be arriving at the prospect until the next morning so myself and the other two MMOs had time to settle into our cabins, catch up on sleep and adjust to the motion of the ship.

During our transfer to the prospect we began ancillary MMO watches during which time our lead MMO spotted a group of pilot whales about 300 meters off the ship. Unfortunately myself and the other MMO reached the bridge too late to see the whales :-( After arriving on the prospect we began our full schedule of watches to: ensure no marine mammals were within 500 meters of the airguns during the half hour prior to their startup, to ensure the seismic crew use a soft start (gradaully increase their power) to reach full power for operations to begin, and to watch for marine mammals during all daylight hours to ensure none are within 500 meters of the guns while they are operating. Should a whale be sighted within 500 meters of the airguns under power our job was to inform the seismic crew to shut the guns down until half an hour after the animals are last seen. The guidelines we use to advise for seismic mitigation in the Gulf of Mexico are set by the United States Interior Minerals Management Service and is the Notice To Leasees (NTL) Implementation of Seismic Survey Mitigation Measures and Protected Species Observer Program.

Following are some photos from this survey. As you'll see the sky, sunrises and sunsets are quite spectacular offshore in the Gulf of Mexico and since we saw very few marine mammals I ended up taking many photos of the ships and skies.

This was an awesome cloud formation

The FRC on the Harrier Explorer

 4 of the 7 ships operating in the survey

Oil rigs on the Gulf of Mexico horizon 

 Gorgeous sunset

 Trying to get the green flash as the sun dropped below the horizon. No luck, but still very nice colours.

 Sunrise skies

 Another sunset

 Helicopter transferring crew to and from one of the other ships

 The clouds really add to the skies

 On the starboard bridge wing...this is where we observed from during decent weather

 Not so calm seas!

 I was playing with contrast here...you can see the white blotch in the centre where a seaspout had started forming

 My cabin, I got very lucky as it was a very comfortable size

And my cabin was quite sunny too...I even started growing a little plant on the porthole window sill!

Back from Scotland and Ireland and then yesterday...a sunny, calm day with Transients off the Victoria Waterfront

So things have been quiet on Maiacetus lately...but that is because I was away for the past couple of months; I was travelling on the East coast of Canada and Scotland and Ireland. On October 9th I flew to Quebec City to attend the 18th Biennial Conference on the Biology Of Marine Mammals (see Whale Nerds Unite blog posts about the Whale Nerds whale watching in the St Lawrence and the conference).

After attending the conference I continued my travels in Eastern Canada by visiting family in New Brunswick and my sister who is studying at Concordia in Montreal. Then on November 2nd I flew from Montreal to Edinburgh, Scotland where I travelled, with my parents, from Edinburgh to St Andrews (where I did the Research Masters in Marine Mammal Science course in 2007/08) to Inverness to Plockton (near the Isle of Skye) to Glasgow and then on to Ireland where we visited Dublin and Ireland. It was a great trip and so nice to be enjoying Scotland without the stresses of the masters course!

On Loch Ness...searching for the Loch Ness Monster!

Beautiful Loch Ness lighting!

This coming Wednesday I will be off again to work as a Marine Mammal Observer for a seismic survey in the Gulf of Mexico. This will be a 5 week rotation and while onboard the ship I will be responsible for ensuring there are no marine mammals near the seismic airguns before they are turned on and while they are firing and to inform operators when they can turn them on again once whales have left the safety zone. Since I leave so soon again I was really hoping to see some killer whales, even from the Victoria shore, before departing and yesterday I was very lucky to do so!

Image showing how seismic surveys work (image source)

In the morning I received a report by Mark Malleson that some Transient "mammal eating' killer whales were approaching the Victoria waterfront. I quickly made my way to the shoreline where, along with some other keen whale watchers, I spent over an hour in the cold trying to track down the animals.

Unfortunately, we didn't see them from shore but Mark, who had sailed with his dad to fuel their sailboat in the Victoria Harbour, generously offered me to join them for the ride back to the Royal Victoria Yacht Club. I quickly made my way to the fuel dock and we were soon on our way out of the harbour. Not even 20 minutes after we left the dock Mark spotted fins in the distance and the group of elusive Transients was found! In addition to re-sighting those animals another vessel was on the water and reported another group of Transients to the south of us. After a few looks at the first group we decided to head to the southerly group but picked up a third group en route! Shortly after we left the southerly group Ken Balcomb, of the Center For Whale Research (who both Mark and I have worked with) came out on the Center's vessel and proceeded to do some photo-ID under permit.

Above 2 photos: what a bad day to be out...sunny and calm!

Mark at the helm

(Photo Mark Malleson)

Transients with Victoria Waterfront in background (photo Ken Balcomb, Center For Whale Research)

(Photo Mark Malleson)

Transients passing south of Trial Island (Photo Mark Malleson)

Eastbound (photo Ken Balcomb, Center For Whale Research)

Interestingly one of the calves we sighted was gray/white and likely has Chediak-Higashi syndrome; an inherited syndrome resulting in partial albinism (learn more in Transients: mammal hunting killer whales, Ford and Ellis 1999) (photo Ken Balcomb, Center For Whale Research)

Above 2 photos: the awesome sunset (Mark Malleson)

Great winter lighting!

Mark and his dad deciding what to do next

Above 2 photos: more sunset shots!

Me, happy about such a great sighting!

Heading in to the yacht club for a hot drink!

It was a great day on the water! After looking at his photos at home (I didn't have my camera :-( Mark identified the T68s and T137A along with some others whose IDs have not been confirmed yet. How lucky to be out with so many Transients on a calm and sunny winter day!