20.04.21
A day without orca…. we are having withdrawals!!
After spending hours looking out to sea for the smallest of orca tell-tale signs, our encounters with multiple sperm whales and two large pods of pilots whales helped keep us sane.
With four large bull, male sperm whales relaxing at the surface they were recovering from their deep dark dives, prepping to go again. With a final big inhale, we breathed in too. The beautiful slow back arch, showing each knobbly bone on their peduncle (tail stalk) leading down to the heavy thick tail. It is raised vertically to ensure a long slow decent downwards towards squid territory.
The pilot whales were as cute as ever! Plenty of small calves were swimming along close to their mums. They are distinctive since their tiny silver bullet bodies show foetal folds, light grey lines running vertical from dorsal to ventral side. One was particularly curious about our vessel. It continually brought its body higher and higher out of the water on each breath. We could even see its eye looking at us!
A soft-plumaged petrel and various species of Albatross joined us on our expedition today. With the winds getting colder, one ably looked to be snuggling into its plumage for extra warmth, we felt the same snuggling down into our beanies and wind breaker jackets.
