From Cape Verde and beyond

Thursday morning saw us arriving on the small island of Sao Vicente in Cape Verde where we had the morning ashore exploring the island. Unusually, there has been a lot of rain this year in Cape Verde and the islands are looking very lush. Sightings of the endemic sparrow, the Iago or Cape Verde Sparrow, were had by most passengers and several of us were treated to the spectacular sight of an Osprey actively fishing over Catfish Bay during the excursion.

Catfish Bay, Sao Vicente

We departed Sao Vicente in the early afternoon and headed south to start our long voyage across the Atlantic towards Recife in Brazil. It is going to take us 4.5 days to make this journey and we will be taking in St Peter & St Paul archipelago and Fernando de Noronha archipelago en route; both very important breeding areas for seabirds. We had good sightings of Red-billed Tropicbirds on the way out of Sao Vicente, flying high along the cliffs. These brilliant white birds with their long tail streamers were highlighted well against the dark rocks and many passengers managed to see them.

We came into cetacean activity just over an hour after leaving port with around 30 Atlantic Spotted Dolphin active on the port side of the ship. They did not come into bowride, but were very actively leaping in the wake wave and it was fantastic to hear the passengers cheering in excitement every time one of the dolphins leapt out of the water…. You can always guarantee a good dolphin sighting will make people smile and laugh! No sooner had the passengers all settled back down in their sun loungers than they were up at the railings again for another group of Atlantic Spotted Dolphin which did come into the bow and offered excellent views down the port side of the ship.

Seabird sightings have been quite scarce over the last couple of days with a few scattered sightings of Cory’s Shearwater gracefully shearing low over the sea or Leach’s Petrel flitting ahead of the ship. We have also had our first near-casualty of the trip with a Leach’s Petrel being found stranded on the Promenade deck. This little bird created a great deal of interest amongst the passengers when we took it down to the stern to check over and release back to sea and it was good to be able to show them first-hand one of these tiny ocean-going seabirds.

Whilst tracking over the deep waters of the abyssal plain on Friday in waters of over 5000 metres depth, we had our best sighting of the voyage so far. Clive was scanning ahead of the ship and suddenly called “large black dorsal fin 600m ahead of the bow.” A quick scan with the binoculars revealed a very tall, triangular dorsal fin cutting through the water towards us: a bull Killer Whale!

Clive quickly alerted the Captain to the sighting who immediately slowed the ship right down to 4 knots and put her into hand steering so we could manoeuvre easily. With passengers lining the decks and the Minerva moving very slowly in a circle, we had a fantastic encounter with 3 Killer Whales no more than 100 metres away from us.

There they are! Passengers enjoying the sighting

One of the animals – a female or sub-adult male – was very inquisitive and came right over to have a look up at us. It then erupted out of the water giving everyone a fantastic view of the eye patch and white chin for which this species is famous.

Bull Killer Whale

Interestingly, it was noted and photographed that the eye patch was small and the animals had no visible saddle patch showing. More-or-less every passenger had excellent sightings of this A1 predator of the world’s oceans and the buzz around the ship after the sighting was fantastic… it was lovely to see the decks filled with people pointing and cheering as the sighting took place. Here’s to some more good sightings like this one!

Onwards to Cape Verde

Days 3 and 4 of our voyage have seen us leaving the Canary Islands well behind us and continuing our southerly journey towards the Cape Verde islands, Sao Vicente in particular where we will dock in the port of Mindelo on Thursday morning.

Thankfully the wind has eased back over these last two days to a force 4 and this has aided us for cetacean sightings. We had to be patient for our first cetacean sighting this trip which finally came at 16.50 on Tuesday. A large splash caught my eye about 500 metres ahead of the ship and I managed to get the binoculars up just in time to see a small Beaked whale breaching high out of the water. Unfortunately we were unable to be any more specific on the species as the animal did not show again and the small beaked whale species known to inhabit this area are all very similar in appearance, some differing only in the position of their teeth which are only visible in the adult males!

Wednesday improved dramatically for cetacean sightings with a good early sighting of a group of 12 Short-Finned Pilot Whale which were seen moving actively at distance and showing relatively well. In particular, one bull in this group had a very broad-based, rounded dorsal fin and was surging actively through the water.

A second group of probable Short-Finned Pilot Whale was sighted at 11.30 ahead of the ship. Initially very active ahead of us, they unfortunately went quiet as we passed them, so many passengers struggled to see the animals….. we hope to get a easier sighting next time!

Finally, in mid-afternoon, we had our first confirmed dolphin sightings of the trip. A fairly active mixed group of around 30 Pantropical Spotted and Spinner Dolphin moved across the bow ahead of us and despite not coming in to bow-ride, they were very active close to the starboard bow.

This was followed by quite a flurry of activity with another 4 Pantropical Spotted Dolphin coming in close to the ship and a very inquisitive lone Rough-Toothed Dolphin coming right under the port bridge wing and looking up at us on its way past. The passengers were delighted with the excellent view of such an elusive dolphin! The Captain can see the excitement of the passengers and as we have spotted animals, he has very kindly diverted the ship so we can close the encounters and as a result the passengers are being treated to some very close sightings of cetaceans. Many thanks to Capt John Moulds for his co-operation!

Seabird-wise, we have started to sight many petrels over the last 2 days with records of Leach’s Petrel, Bulwer’s Petrel and a very close encounter with a Wilson’s Petrel feeding at the surface. We have also been recording several Cory’s Shearwater.

Other wildlife has been keeping us busy with two separate passenger sightings of probable Manta Ray and two very close Loggerhead Turtles at the surface. We are also now starting to encounter very high numbers of flying fish and they have been keeping the passengers on board entertained with everyone determined to see some!

Most unusual sighting of the trip so far has to go to the many Painted Lady butterflies we are recording over the ship! They are all appearing to be heading SW and are making use of the trade winds for their migration. It will be interesting to see whether we record any of these butterflies on Cape Verde.

Bon Voyage from Funchal

Well, what a difference 3 hours makes! We left Gatwick on an extremely wet and windy Sunday morning and 3 hours later had our first glimpse of the beautiful island of Madeira where we would be joining our home for the next 3 weeks, MV Minerva.

A very smooth journey escorted through arrivals by Swan Hellenic saw us being met by coaches to ferry us to the Port of Funchal where we embarked onto the ship. As always a very smooth and stress-free process so many thanks to the Swan Hellenic team!

The first leg of our journey takes us down the eastern side of the Atlantic to Sao Vicente, one of the western-most islands in the Cape Verde chain. Taking 3 sea days to arrive, this will give us plenty of time to hopefully sight some of the wildlife which make this area of the Atlantic their home.

We departed a very sunny Madeira at 18.00 as the sun was sinking accompanied by around 100 Cory’s Shearwater outside the harbour entrance. All the passengers on deck watching departure were treated to a fantastic sunset, complete with Green Flash!

Cory's Shearwater

The first full day at sea marked the start of our education program to the passengers with an introductory presentation to the work of the charity and the wildlife we aim to encounter during the course of their cruise – with such productive seas around the islands; we really want to ensure the passengers were fully prepared. The presentation was very well received and the passengers couldn’t wait to start looking for wildlife - many had not realized that the waters we would be cruising through are home to so many species of whales, dolphins and seabirds, but were delighted that experts were on hand to help them spot and identify the animals. One passenger had not quite heard us correctly saying she was sad that “the arching of the back of a whale is a sure sign that is was going to die” – We reassured her that this was a sign that the whale was going to dive, not die…..

Our first day at sea saw us sailing past the westernmost Canary Islands, a fantastic hotspot for cetaceans. However, unfortunately we woke to a force 7 sea which stayed with us all day apart from when we were in the lee of the land. Most of the day was spent close to La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro, but weather conditions really hampered our observations. Seabirds were keeping us very busy however, and we came across several large congregations of feeding Cory’s Shearwater close to La Palma and El Hierro. We did have one report of a dolphin species by a passenger, but this was not seen more than once.

La Palma, Canary Islands

Hopefully, tomorrow will see the wind ease back and the sea state calm which will make it much easier for us to survey. We have another 2 days at sea heading towards Cape Verde and hopefully a busy time ahead for sightings!

Follow Marinelife on an exciting transatlantic survey trip in November

Marinelife/Biscay Dolphin Research Programme is very pleased to announce a continuation of our exciting collaboration with Swan Hellenic which will see us on board the Minerva on her scheduled trip from Funchal, Madeira to Buenos Aires, Argentina which leaves on Sunday 1st November 2009. Clive Martin and Emma Webb from Marinelife will again be carrying out monitoring of marine wildlife seen during the trip and completeing an extensive passenger education programme.

MV Minerva

We hope to be able to keep you updated with our progress and sightings on a daily basis from the ship. Please do keep visiting our blog to read the latest updates and to see the latest photographs. We do hope you enjoy reading about this exciting research trip.

2010 Cetacean & Seabird Identification Workshops now available for Booking.

Biscay Dolphin Research Programme is delighted to announce the Cetacean & Seabird Identification Workshops for 2010 on the P&O cruiseferry ‘Pride of Bilbao’are now available for booking.

Biscay Dolphin Research Programme (BDRP) has been conducting whale, dolphin and seabird surveys of the English Channel and Bay of Biscay each month, year-round continuously since 1995. BDRP is an award-winning project within the newly established charity Marinelife that aims to further the conservation of whales, dolphins, seabirds and other marine life through scientific study and educational activities. Because of the work we have undertaken, the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay is now recognised as one of the most important areas in the world for whales and dolphins!

Come and join some of the most experienced cetacean and seabird researchers in the UK for a fully interactive workshop where you will learn all the basic skills needed to observe and identify these fantastic animals at sea.

Please visit our website for more details: www.biscay-dolphin.org.uk

PRESS RELEASE: ALARM BELLS RINGING FOR FIN WHALE ABSENCE

Two leading whale and dolphin research charities Marinelife and Organisation Cetacea (ORCA) are concerned that the annual summer migration of Fin Whales into the eastern Bay of Biscay has failed to materialise this year, raising wider concerns for the health of this important ecosystem.

The Biscay Dolphin Research Programme(BDRP), a key project for the marine conservation research charity Marinelife, and Organisation Cetacea (ORCA), are concerned that the annual summer migration of Fin Whale to the Bay of Biscay has not yet taken place. Biscay appears to be an important feeding ground for Fin Whale and their absence rings alarm bells for both BDRP and ORCA as this could be an indication of issues with fish stocks or other food sources.

For the full press release please follow this link: http://www.biscay-dolphin.org.uk/pressrelease/020909a.html

The End of the Line

ANNOUNCEMENT - Marinelife supporting 'The End of the Line' documentary film


Marinelife is proud to support The End of the Line, the first major feature documentary film revealing the impact of overfishing on our oceans. Filmed over two years, we see firsthand the effects of our global love affair with fish as food. The film examines the imminent extinction of bluefin tuna, brought on by increasing western demand for sushi; the impact on marine life resulting in huge overpopulation of jellyfish; and the profound implications of a future world with no fish that would bring certain mass starvation.

Please show your support by buying your advanced ticket now at http://endoftheline.com/things_to_do/screenings for preview cinema screenings across the UK at over 50 cinemas on 8 June - World Oceans Day.

And you will be in good company - Mr. Stephen Fry himself is a fan of The End of the Line! Here is what he wrote on his Twitter page last week about the film 'Prob'y most important issue facing world future brilliantly treated in The End of the Line. Great book, now film www.endoftheline.com'

Marinelife representatives will be hosting some of the regional screenings and we are delighted to have an opportunity to highlight some of the issues covered in the documentary such as bycatch and overfishing in a short Q&A session after the screening. Please watch this space for details of which screenings we will be attending.