This is the third Blog Post detailing the Cetaceans we saw on the crossing from the Tanimbar Islands to Babar Island. The previous two Blog Posts covered the Seabirds & an Olive Ridley Turtle. A final Blog Post will cover the Flying Fish.
Regular readers of the Blog will know that I'm a big fan of Cetaceans and I was looking forward to the Banda Sea Cruise as I was expecting to see a variety of species at regular intervals: I was not disappointed.
I will start with Risso's Dolphins which are relatively easy to identify with their pale grey and generally scarred colouration and high, narrow and strongly falcated dorsal fin. They have a very wide range in all the oceans, except for the cold Arctic and Antarctic oceans.
[Note - After I wrote this Blog Post, James Eaton came back to query my identification of the next Dolphins, which I had stated I thought they were Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins & James stated "Your Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins photo - are you sure as to the identification, the beak looks so long and slender that it appears more like a Spinner to me? Remember, Spinners in Indonesia aren’t so long-beaked. It also looks very dark, though it could be the lighting". There was also feedback from Dan Brown stating "To me the IndoP BNDs are Spinners. The beak looks way to slim for BND, the colouration is also pro Spinner and the dorsal is pretty typical in shape for Spinner as well. Other IDs all look good". As a result of this feedback, I've corrected the identification of these Dolphins to Spinner Dolphins].
At 11:16 local time we encountered a logging Cetacean. I've a number of photos of it looking exactly the same as the second photo, followed by the last two photos where it turned before diving.
[Note - At the time I wrote this Blog Post, I said this was a probable Dwarf Sperm Whale. Having looked at the Post again today, I'm struggling to see why I was so cautious. Looked at it again, I'm now confident this logging Cetacean is a Dwarf Sperm Whale. There was also positive feedback from James Eaton "Dwarf Sperm - agree. Looks the same as one I encountered in 2018 off Babar. That was also logging, classic behaviour" & from Dan Brown stating "Other IDs all look good". I've removed the probable labelling].
