It was a five AM alarm call on the second day of the ORCA survey from Plymouth to Santander. There was time for a quick breakfast & cuppa of tea, before heading to the bridge. Our timing was perfect and it was half-light by the time we were set up for the day's surveying. The surveying started at 05:55 and we managed eight hours, before we ended the survey just outside of Santander. Unfortunately, we had already passed over the continental shelf in the dark and we were over the deep abyssal plain of central Biscay. Had we passed over the continental shelf in the light, we would have encountered a lot more Dolphins and maybe a few more Whales sightings. It's always a lot quieter over the abyssal plain.
My Cetacean sightings for this watch included two Fin Whales, another unidentified large Whale that was most likely a Fin Whale (but the views were too brief to rule out the much less likely option of a Sei Whale), another distant & far too brief large Whale that was a Humpback or Sperm Whale, fourteen Short-beaked Common Dolphins and a couple of unidentified Dolphin pods. The first highlight were the two Fin Whales that I picked up in front of the ferry and which passed down the starboard side.
I could tell both individuals were the same size and bulk. They were either Fin Whales or possibly the much scarcer Sei Whales. But I still wasn't able to be sure of the identify of these individuals at this stage. Especially, as I wasn't looking at the photos as I was surveying. I carried on tracking these two individuals as they passed down the starboard side, whilst still looking out for Dolphins popping up on my side of the ferry.
Separating Fin Whales from Sei Whales is tricky. Fin Whales are longer, but this size difference is always subjective for all but the most experienced of observers. Good views of the dorsal fin is essential. Sei Whales have a taller, thinner & more upright dorsal fin. More importantly, Sei Whales have a distinctive kink in the middle of their leading edge, whereas, Fin Whales have a smooth curved shape.
Finally, they resurfaced just behind the bridge wing & I took some more photos while they we side on.
My clear highlight of the day was a pale Cuvier's Beaked Whale that passed down the starboard side of the ship and only twenty five metres from the side of the ship. I waited with the camera in the hope of some photos, but it remained two or three metres underwater & never surfaced. However, it's size, bulk & colouration allowed it to be safely identified.
The rest of the survey team added another probable Cuvier's Beaked Whale, a few more brief & distant large Whales or Whale blows, a pod of six Striped Dolphins and a large and distant pod of one hundred and thirty-four unidentified Dolphins. It had been a successful survey, albeit the sea state had been high all day & this adversely impacted the number of sightings that were identified.
We had an hour & a half ashore before heading back for return sailing from Santander. We departed on time and we returned to the bridge once the Pont-Aven had left the outer bay, to resume surveying for the last three hours of light. Unfortunately, the high sea state made surveying a challenge, but we managed to see a pod of seventy Short-beaked Common Dolphins, as well as, a few unidentified distant Whales. Overall, it had been a good full day of surveying on the Plymouth to Santander ferry and I would like to thank to Brittany Ferries for inviting an ORCA team onboard. We were looking forward to the final day of surveying. I will cover this day of the ORCA survey in the final Blog Post.