Day five at sea from the Caribbean to Spain on the Saga Caribbean Calypso was uneventful for me. Fortunately, the seas had returned to the normal four metre swells after the rougher seas of the previous late afternoon. It seems a lot of swell, but the Spirit of Discovery wasn't uncomfortable in that swell. But as we headed East, and a bit further North, the daily temperature dropped each day. We were still doing our all day dawn to dusk surveys, with the only breaks being for breakfast and lunch. A few Cory's Shearwaters provided my only Avian interest during the day. Additionally, Charlotte & I saw a lunge feeding Whale pass down the port side: the identification wasn't clinched, but it was probably a Humpback Whale. Unfortunately, the views weren't sufficient to identify it and as nobody managed to get any photos, it had to be logged as an unidentified Whale. That's the problem when the seas have a strong swell, even large Whales at a distance can be lost in the waves. A lone Smurf was the nearest I got to any Flying Fish all day.
We were back on deck at dawn to start our surveying on day six at sea from the Caribbean to Spain on the Saga Caribbean Calypso. As always we were hoping for some Birds and Cetaceans. The Birds picked up and I saw eleven Cory's Shearwaters. Not many, but better than the half a dozen from the previous day. The Cetacean highlight was a Fin Whale, with a second set of nearby blows.
In the afternoon, Terry and I held the first of two Wildlife Clinics in one of the lounges. This was the opportunity for the passengers to come and have a chat about anything on a Cetacean, Bird or other Wildlife theme that they had encountered during the trip. Both sessions were well attended and we managed to identify most of the photos that the passengers brought along. Jan and Charlotte stayed surveying in our absence and they were joined by a new helper, called Big Blue, who was press-ganged into joining the ORCA team on deck. His appearance also attracted a couple of Short-beaked Common Dolphins and two more unidentified Cetaceans, unfortunately, while Terry & I were running the Wildlife Clinic.
Day seven at sea from the Caribbean to Spain on the Saga Caribbean Calypso, was similar to the previous day. There was a bit more variety on our last full day at sea, before we reached the Spanish coast and the lovely city of La Coruna. I only saw one Cory's Shearwater all day, but two Gannets and fifty-eight Kittiwakes brought a more European feel to the day. Six distant Terns and twelve medium-sized Waders were interesting signs of migration well out to sea. I didn't see any Cetaceans, but I did have a Shark sp. swim down the starboard side of the ship. Terry & I ran a second Wildlife Clinic in the late afternoon.
Day eight at sea from the Caribbean to Spain on the Saga Caribbean Calypso, had a different start as we were relatively close to the Spanish coast & heading for La Coruna on the North West coast. We were hoping for some early morning Dolphins, given we were close in shore. But our main hope was the Bryde's Whale that Charlotte had seen the previous Autumn. She had been in touch with a local Whale-watching company and had heard that it was still around in the bay. As we got closer to La Coruna's bay, we could see lots of Gannets ahead and plunge-diving into the sea. Clearly, there were fish in the area. We picked up a pod of about twenty-five Short-billed Common Dolphins, then Charlotte shouted she had just see a large Whale surface amongst the Dolphins. We needed to get some photos to confirm its identification.
Within a couple of minutes, the Bryde's Whale was on view again. They have three prominent ridges on the rostrum, while similar species generally have a single ridge. The head is about twenty-five percent of the body length. The dorsal fin is tall, rises steeply, falcate, generally pointed at the tip and is often notched on the trailing edge. Males can be up to fifteen metres, with females about ten percent longer.
The title of this Blog Post suggests a romantic theme. But in reality, Bryde's Whale is named after the 19th Century Norwegian whaler, John Bryde, who was set up the first whaling stations in South Africa His name is pronounced and Bryde’s whale is pronounced as "BROO-dus".
La Coruna looked at interesting city with the Tower of Hercules Lighthouse and an interesting surrounding park containing a number of art statues.
We stayed on deck looking to see what Birds we could see as we came into the port. This included fifteen Cormorants, a number of typical Gull species roosting on harbour docks and a Peregrine chasing Feral Pigeons over the town.
To make up for the failure to get to the Azores, the passengers were going to have a day & a half in La Coruna. I'm sure some took the opportunity for a meal ashore on Valentine's Day.
