After a day & night of sailing, we arrived at the Portland Bank about 20 nautical miles South East of Mangareva. We tried a few hours of chumming here, but it wasn't particularly exciting. Just a few Murphy's Petrels & a single Tropical Shearwater, along with a few Red-footed Boobies & Noddies. The Bird highlight for me was a
distant flyby Wedge-tailed Shearwater as I managed to miss the other
seven that were seen on the trip.
Murphy's Petrel: Easily the commonest of the Pterodroma Petrels we saw on the trip
But the real highlight was a distant breaching Humpback Whale, followed, later on, by a party of three Humpback Whales which were much closer to us.
Humpback Whale: The distinctive hump
Humpback Whale: A side view of the distinctive hump
Humpback Whale: Two of the three Humpbacks
Humpback Whale: Blowing
Humpback Whale: With the right one starting to go down
Humpback Whale: A back view of the upper fin
Humpback Whale: A blow up of the fin showing a black marking below the main black tip
Humpback Whale: Note, the different shape of the black markings confirming this is a different individual
To liven up the dull chumming, Chris told us some of his favourite questions from the Antarctic trips he guides. One was "Does the sea go all round this island?". Another was "Does this island go all the way to the bottom?". My favourite question was "Is this the same moon, that I see back home in Texas?".
The moon: This is a potential future split as Mangavera Moon