16 Jun 26 - From The Biggest To The Smallest Expedition Cruise Day 7 - Three Humpys

I figured our final approach to Jan Mayen Island could be good for Cetaceans, so I set my alarm for a 04:00 start. I woke about 03:30 and decided to get up at that point, rather than wait for my alarm to re-wake me at 04:00 and disturb the rest of my cabin mates. I had a quick cup of tea and some biscuits for my first breakfast, before headed up to the bridge wing. I was surprised to find that Maurice had beaten me to the deck. Fortunately, I hadn't missed any Cetaceans. It wasn't long before we spotted our first sighting of two very distant Humpback Whales at 03:45. This was followed by our first two Beluga Whales, which came past a few minutes later. Unfortunately, I only saw the blow as I was looking for a dark body in the water. Not long after, Maurice found our first Blue Whale of the cruise at 04:20. Fortunately, a few of the other keen Dutch Birders had also joined us by that time to enjoy the sighting. Thirty minutes later, we saw two Harbour Porpoises.

We were approaching Jan Mayen Island from the South and would sail around the Northern side of the South end of the island to our planned landing site

Just over an hour after leaving the Blue Whale we spotted three Humpback Whales in the distance. It was still only after 05:40. The Expedition Staff decided to slow the ship as we got close to them and we stayed with this pod for the next twenty-five minutes or so, as they put on an entertaining display.

Humpback Whale: This individual had a distinctive dorsal fin

Humpback Whale: This individual has a typical dorsal fin

Humpback Whale: Then there were two

Humpback Whale: This individual is getting ready to fluke

Humpback Whale: Humpback Whales are one of the Whales most likely to show their tails as they dive

Humpback Whale: Finally, all three appeared together

Humpback Whale: A nice view of the tail. However, it's the patterning of the underside of the tail that is considered to be unique in identifying the individual

Humpback Whale: Another fluking individual

Humpback Whale: Getting into this position, allows the Humpback Whale to use the weight of the tail to dive

Humpback Whale: We are still seeing the tail from the wrong side

Finally, the Plancius moved relative to the Humpback Whales and they were out of the glare.

Humpback Whale: The third Humpback Whale is just blowing between the other two Humpback Whales

Humpback Whale: The Humpback Whale with the distinctive dorsal fin (on the left) with its buddy with a more typical dorsal fin

Humpback Whale: Getting ready to fluke and at the right angle to us

Humpback Whale

Humpback Whale: This undertail pattern should be able to identify the individual Whale. I did hear that we had seen a Humpback Whale that hadn't been documented on the Happy Whale Project website before and perhaps it was this individual

Humpback Whale: I can't resist one final photo

In case, we hadn't had a good enough selection of Cetaceans for our pre-breakfast watch, a Minke Whale briefly put in an appearance. Four species of Whales and a Harbour Porpoise is an impressive start to any day at sea.

Minke Whale

We were getting close to Jan Mayen Island when we heard the call for breakfast

Finally, it was breakfast time. Having been up since 03:45, I was looking forward to breakfast.

Lyn was great at keeping us topped up with hot drinks at breakfast

Breakfast time: Valeria was one of the three waitresses for the ninety of so passengers

Breakfast time with Tribe 205 & Birgit the Pirate

We didn't know if we were going to be able to get ashore. Landings at Jan Mayen Island are tricky as there is only one beach were landings are allowed and the waves frequently stop landings on the day.

25 Oct 26 - Wave-riders

I was arriving at Durlston for a seawatch in the hope of connecting with something good moving on the sea after the previous two days of gales, when I received a text from James Leaver to say he had found a couple of Grey Phalaropes at Kimmeridge. This seemed a better option than hoping to see a relocating Grey Phalarope at Durlston, so I quickly headed down. They were still present and only a few metres away from the slipway by the Dorset Wildlife Trust Wild Seas Centre. I decided I needed to head home and return with the camera. Being Grey Phalaropes they were totally unconcerned with me sitting quietly on a rock on the slipway by the water's edge.

Grey Phalarope: Adult. This Adult spent most of its time close to the base of the slipway

Grey Phalarope: Adult

Grey Phalarope: Adult

Grey Phalarope: Adult

Grey Phalarope: Adult

The second Grey Phalarope was generally feeding further away, but every now and then, it flew back to join its pal.

Grey Phalarope: Adult (left) and the smaller-looking First Winter individual

Grey Phalarope: First Winter

Grey Phalarope: First Winter

Grey Phalarope: First Winter

As the Grey Phalaropes were feeding into the swell, they encountered a few small waves. These waves were only a few inches high and were minimal compared to the waves across the rest of the bay. However, some of these waves were high compared to their size.

Grey Phalarope wave-riding

Grey Phalarope: Sometimes the waves were just a little bit bigger

Grey Phalarope

Grey Phalarope: Every now and then the Adult would fly back towards the shore into the calmest area of sea. The heavy wing moult confirms this is an Adult individual

They were a welcome bonus for my historic Isle of Purbeck Year List which now stands at 197 and Quail heard, with no unestablished reintroductions or Feral Pigeon on the list. I had a bit of time left after leaving Kimmeridge, before I needed to head home for a late lunch and the monthly Poole Harbour WeBS count. So I headed to Chapman's Pool and after a bit of searching, I found my own Grey Phalarope in the bay: which was an overdue addition to my St Aldhelms patch list.

16 Jun 26 - From The Biggest To The Smallest Expedition Cruise Day 7 - Big Blue

I figured our final approach to Jan Mayen Island could be good for Cetaceans, so I set my alarm for a 04:00 start. I woke about 03:30 and decided to get up at that point, rather than wait for my alarm to re-wake me at 04:00 and disturb the rest of my cabin mates. I had a quick cup of tea and some biscuits for my first breakfast, before headed up to the bridge wing. I was surprised to find that Maurice had beaten me to the deck. Fortunately, I hadn't missed any Cetaceans. It wasn't long before we spotted our first sighting of two very distant Humpback Whales at 03:45. This was followed by our first two Beluga Whales, which came past a few minutes later. Unfortunately, I only saw the blow as I was looking for a dark body in the water. Not long after, Maurice found our first Blue Whale of the cruise at 04:20. Fortunately, a few of the other keen Dutch Birders had also joined us by that time to enjoy the sighting.

Blue Whale: The large pale bluish-grey body is a good feature to confirm this is a Blue Whale

Blue Whale: There is a bit more curvature in the top of the body compared to the straight top-side of a Fin Whale

Blue Whale: They have a tall blow. However, identifying Whales on their blows alone is unwise

Blue Whale

Blue Whale

Blue Whale: They have a small, dorsal fin which is dwarfed by the size of their body

Chloe had already shown us a Water Bear which was the smallest species we were to see on the cruise. During the Covid years, the longest Dinosaur to be identified was described. Supersaurus is longer than a Blue Whale at up to forty metres, compared to the thirty-three metres length of the largest Blue Whale ever killed in the Southern Oceans. However, their weight is estimated as a mere thirty-five to forty-four metric tons, compared to the one hundred and eighty metric tons for a Blue Whale. Therefore, considering the weight as well as the length, it's reasonable to say we were watching the largest animal that has ever been known to have populated the Earth.

I could always rely on the Dutch Birders, Jordy, Maurice and Laurens to be watching from the bridge wings

It wasn't even 05:00 and we still had an eventful three hour wait for breakfast.

15 Jun 26 - From The Biggest To The Smallest Expedition Cruise Day 6 - New Cetaceans For The Trip

After a reasonable night's sleep, I was ready for a second full day at sea as we sailed from the Shetland Islands to Jan Mayen Island. I spent a lot of the day on the deck and it proved worthwhile for Cetaceans. The first species seen was a Northern Bottlenose Whale, but frustratingly I didn't manage to get any photos of it.

We were still sailing NNW towards Jan Mayen Island

The next Cetaceans seen were a couple of Humpback Whales, which we thought was a female with a calf.

Humpback Whale: A Humpback Whale just after it had blown

Humpback Whale: The distinctive dorsal fin with the second Humpback Whale showing through the water

Humpback Whale: A better view of the dorsal fin

Humpback Whale: Finally, I managed to get a photo of both of them

Humpback Whale: Humpback Whales have a distinctive dorsal fin

Towards the end of lunch there was a broadcast that the Plancius was stopping as one of the expedition staff had seen a Fin Whale during their bridge watch. I had just finished eating and so it was time to head back up to the bridge wings.

Fin Whale: Note, the reasonable-sized dorsal fin and long relatively-flat body

Fin Whale: A close crop of the dorsal fin showing it is has a smooth-curved leading edge confirming the identification

Fin Whale: This photo shows that it has a broad body

Fin Whale

Fin Whale: Another photo showing the broad body

We saw few Bird species during the day. Virtually, all the Birds I saw were Fulmars, but there was also a Long-tailed Skua, four Kittiwakes and the first two Brunnich's Guillemots. I expected to see lots of the latter species during the trip, however, it was good to see the first ones, especially as the only one I had previously seen was literally on its last legs and two days later, it was found dead in Anstruther harbour, on the Scottish East Coast.

Brunnich's Guillemot: They are short-bodied than Guillemots, are blacker-coloured and have a broader-based bill

Brunnich's Guillemot

Brunnich's Guillemot

Brunnich's Guillemot

Brunnich's Guillemot

Later in the day, I saw another couple of Humpback Whales. In the early evening, I saw a brief blow, but never saw the Whale. Looking at photos that others took, it was another Fin Whale. I decided to knock the watch on head at 21:30 and get an early night. We were due to have a few hours on the following morning as we approached Jan Mayen Island and I was hoping this would be more productive for Cetaceans. I will cover this final approach in the next Blog Post.