We opted for an early breakfast on the third morning at sea, as the combination of being further West & the ship's clock time meant was a late sunrise. As a result, we saw the sunrise from the restaurant. This meant we would be able to have a longer period of the morning surveying from the deck. At sunrise, we were just North of Gibraltar and the entrance to the Mediterranean, however, we were about 250 miles West of Gibraltar.
Sunrise was on the breakfast menu
A breakfast table by the window was always good for the possibility of a Cetacean: We saw a lone Pilot Whale sp. from the restaurant that morning. There were several other Cetacean sightings from the restaurant during the trip, which was a sign of us always looking out of the window, rather than very long meal breaks
Around mid-morning, we saw a pod of at least seven Pilot Whales. Unfortunately, we were in an area where both species could occur and they had to remain as unidentified Pilot Whales.
Pilot Whale sp.: This pod was seen at the Southern-most part of the range for Long-finned Pilot Whales and within the range of Short-finned Pilot Whales, so they had to go down as Pilot Whale sp.
Pilot Whale sp.: The best way to separate the two species of Pilot Whales is to see the length of their fins on the underside of the body. However, despite having seen many Pilot Whales of both species, I've never seen these fins. Consequently, my previous sightings have been identified based upon the range with Long-finned Pilot Whales being a cold-water species, while Short-finned Pilot Whales prefer more tropical waters
Pilot Whale sp.: Male. This can be identified as a male due to the broad dorsal fin. Note, how small the blow is when it surfaces
The warmer weather meant we had more passengers joining us on deck: Overall, we had better passenger engagement than on previous cruises that the others had been on
The end of the day noticeboard: It had been a more successful day than my photos suggested, but if I was surveying on the other side of the ship, I only abandoned my position for photos if it was a more interesting sighting and one of the others was happy to backfill my position
