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Client Quote.... 'A wonderful trip with fantastic sightings' A & S. 2003

A very good trip with an above average number of sightings marred only by the much delayed arrival back at Portsmouth would be a brief summary of this particular trip.

Saturday 5th August

The trip set sail about 45 minutes late due to the boat being very full, and it therefore taking a little longer than normal to service the cabins and load the vessel. Consequently it was too dark to see any of the historical and current naval sights within the harbour.

Our group talk was interrupted by the safety announcements but otherwise it was good to get everyone together, bar two, for the initial briefing. The two who missed the briefing were in the process of upgrading their cabin; well it was going to be Darren’s 40th birthday whilst we were away after all, so no expense was spared –fresh fruit daily, bath robes etc.....

Sunday 6th August

Dawn broke to find us well down the channel having made up time due to strong currents and all four engines working. Our first cetacean sighting came in the expected form of a Harbour Porpoise, at 8.35am, there having been two blank hours beforehand up on the base for the next few days, namely deck 11. The water was slightly choppy, making it difficult to see undemonstrative species like porpoises and Minke Whales so it was always going to be a little difficult. Further porpoise sightings followed prior to turning the corner at Ile D’Oessant (Ushant) and heading into the Bay of Biscay at 10.35am. Unfortunately most of the group were attending Clive Martin’s Biscay Dolphin Research Programme talk when a close, loose group of 14 Pilot Whales appeared around the boat –much earlier than normally to be expected. Very few people at all were on deck to witness this sighting. Fortunately more were to follow later. We picked up more Harbour Porpoises until the last at about 2.15pm. There then followed two blank hours as we steamed towards the Continental Shelf, and consequently much deeper water, on our diversion away from the normal ferry route to maximise the number of cetacean sightings. Over the space of a few miles the water depth increases from a hundred metres or so to about three thousand metres (3km). At the shelf edge water current uprisings encourage food chain proliferation with the head of the chain being cetaceans. Our arrival there around 4pm coincided right on cue with another close group of 7 Pilot Whales. These wonderful animals appear jet black and with their bulbous heads and marked, but variable, dorsal fins, are a nice easy species to identify. Everyone on deck obtained great views of this sometimes difficult to see species. A mother and calf pair within the Pilot Whale pod was nice to see. Shortly afterwards 2 Common Dolphins came racing into the boat on the starboard side showing the very distinctive ‘hourglass’ pattern on their flanks. They dived under the boat and were lost from view. Within the hour a group of about 50 Striped Dolphins were encountered and which showed their characteristic features clearly. The slimmer body, especially around the tail stock, the distinctive strip running the length of the body and the less controlled, more freestyle nature of their leaps could be appreciated by all. The sharper eyed may have picked up a couple of Common Dolphins within the group. Then came the first of the larger whales. Around 5.20pm a distant blow could be seen and it wasn’t long before we could identify the first Fin Whale of the trip. A large blow, followed by a long length of back and eventually a pronounced dorsal fin are the characteristic features to look for in an animal which isn’t especially close, like this individual. Seven more Pilot Whales soon followed. Just before 6pm another good–sized group of active Striped Dolphins appeared, numbering around 70 in total. The pod of Striped Dolphins were followed within the half hour by a larger dolphin species spotted in the distance; these turned out to be 8 Bottle-nosed Dolphins which cruised down the starboard side. This species always appears to have a more menacing appearance than other dolphin species when viewed at sea, with their robust bodies and larger dorsal fins being distinctive. Within the next hour more blows were spotted and a total of 5 Fin Whales and an unidentified distant whale, probably another Fin Whale, were duly logged. The last of these encounters was a single animal which surfaced right beside the back of the port side of the boat and rolled slightly showing everyone the white jaw line on its right hand side. Those who were looking closely could even see some of the throat grooves. A spectacular encounter with the world’s second largest animal! The Fin Whale is unusual in having asymmetric markings on its head with the right side showing the white jaw colouration but the left side being the dark grey colour of the rest of the upper body. The only animal seen where this pattern is reversed, i.e. a left-handed Fin Whale, is on the display on the wall of the Whale and Dolphin room on board the Pride of Bilbao! The paler chevrons behind the blow hole of the animal which surfaced close to the boat could also be seen. These markings are being used to identify particular animals in some photo-identification projects in Europe. In the last hour of daylight there followed a run of dolphin encounters with four different groups of Striped Dolphins of sizes 30, 80 and two of 10 or so animals. The last of these were absolutely racing down the port side leaping well clear of the water and giving excellent views. These animals were on a mission! Lastly, just as the sun was setting, a distant large blow was seen, again quite likely to have been another Fin Whale. Six species of cetacean had been encountered during the course of the day and most had been seen well; a terrific day! A single Ocean Sunfish was also seen by a few as it passed.

Monday 7th August

The boat arrived on time in Santurtzi and disembarkation followed swiftly and painlessly as the group went their various ways, whether it be on one of the P&O excursions, the WildOceans wildlife walk up the nearby hill or to just spend some time in the picturesque fishing village itself (perhaps this description is rather inaccurate but decency prevents use of the appropriate phrase!). Those who chose the wildlife walk encountered a number of interesting butterflies as well as some good encounters with some of the region’s avifauna. An adult male Grasshopper Warbler, singing occasionally, being pestered by a nice fresh juvenile, was one of the highlights. Some distant soaring Griffon Vultures were located and were new for most of the party. Good views of Red-backed Shrikes, Melodious Warblers, an obliging Cetti’s Warbler and some Black Redstarts were also obtained. Zitting Cisticolas (Fan-tailed Warblers) showed well eventually. Cirl Bunting was a good record too. Butterfly highlights included several Clouded Yellows, possible Pale Clouded Yellows (although these would need to be netted for confirmation), several Mallow Skippers, a Red-underwing Skipper and some Rock Graylings. There were also plenty of Long-tailed Blues on the wing in warm conditions. The sea was looking good in the distance as we headed back down the hill for the port.

Following the now necessary security checks we all boarded and set sail on time into ever-calming waters. We waited an hour and a half before we had our first cetaceous encounter in the form a distant split group of about 200 Striped Dolphins with a smaller number of Common Dolphins therein, probably about 40 in total. Having warned the group that some trips that we have been on have encountered the rare Cuvier’s Beaked Whale at about 2.05pm on several previous occasion (when the boat sails on time) we were all delighted when, to the minute, a close group of 4 were noted bobbing on the surface on the port side. This timing coincides with an underwater canyon and sightings of this species around this time are almost certainly of the same group of animals which are probably resident in the area year-round. Also around this time a distant group of about 10 dolphins were noted, but these were too far away for specific identification. Shortly afterwards one of the group in the observation lounge on deck 8 noted a large animal on the surface which she thought the boat was going to run down. Fortunately the animal did the right thing and dived, but not before raising its tail, showing a clear notch. A Sperm Whale! Sadly this was the only one of the trip and not seen by any other persons.

Around half an hour after the first encounter with Cuvier’s Beaked Whales another even closer group of 5 animals was spotted on the starboard side. One of these was a large male which lifted his head well clear of the surface showing the very distinctive head shape. All of the animals remained on the surface, bobbing around, as the ship sailed by. You can’t ask for better views of this rare animal than this! Within a quarter of an hour some very distant splashing was noted. Nothing happened for a minute or so but then a further 4-5 splashes could be seen clearly with the naked eye, albeit around 3-4km away. Through binoculars it was possible to see the cause –a breaching pale-headed Cuvier’s Beaked Whale. The seemingly characteristic banana-shaped body when breaching was also evident, along with the head-shape, if you had your binoculars on the right stretch of water as the animal emerged. There then followed a quiet spell of more than an hour before a distant blow was noted, this being the first of several Fin Whales during our northbound return trip. Around this time another group of Striped Dolphins were noted but none of today’s dolphins were as obliging as many of those the previous day. A number of distant blows were also spotted but these were probably 4-5km away, precluding specific identification. From about 5.20pm we then had a couple of very close Fin Whale encounters involving a total of 5 animals; unfortunately they were on the port, sunny side of the boat making viewing quite difficult. By now the wind had picked up and the calm conditions were long gone with a frustrating number of white caps making spotting small and undemonstrative species difficult. Over the next hour we encountered a further 10 large whales, 4 of which were sufficiently close to be able to identify as Fin Whales, even though some were 2km distant. The remainder were also probably this species. At 7.15pm another 2 Fin Whales were located along with another group of Striped Dolphins; another larger group of the latter were encountered soon afterwards. The last 2 distant large whales were noted at 7.35pm and were again likely to have been Fin Whales. The final hour of daylight produced no further sightings, however, the sunset was outstanding. Seabirds during the day had been notable by their absence! Another Ocean Sunfish was also seen by a few.

Later in the evening came the bad news. The boat had slowed down and the captain thought we had entangled some metallic debris which was interfering with a propeller. He decided to stop each propeller and re-start to see whether this would resolve the problem. Sadly it didn’t which meant that we could only operate on one propeller instead of two and consequently only two engines could be used. Our overall speed had dropped to about half of that capable, which consequently meant a delayed arrival at Portsmouth. We would be updated next morning.....

Tuesday 8th August

After waking, a quick look at the new onboard GPS display plot showed us to be still well short of Ile D’Ouessant with what appeared to be at last 24 hours to go. Sadly the captain confirmed this around 9.20am but this now meant we had a whole day’s cetacean watching ahead of us. Travelling up the English Channel can provide interesting sightings but generally it is hard work, as proved to be the case on this occasion. Nothing was noted, partly because of poor visibility caused by thick fog patches, until about 11.45am when a group of c.30 Bottle-nosed Dolphins was located. Another two blank hours followed before we started to get amongst some more Harbour Porpoises. By now the sea was calming down all the time with some still patches appearing. This enabled us to find more and more porpoises. Ahead of the boat a whale breached several times and this just about appeared round the side of the boat when it raised its head and promptly dived, never to be seen again. Sadly this was to be the only Minke Whale of the trip and was only seen by Derek. More porpoises followed until we had had a total of 35 by the end of the day. Unfortunately it got dark just as we were about to hit the most productive part of the channel, although by now the wind and sea had picked up a little. A total of 11 Great Skuas had been logged but otherwise the seabirds had again been disappointing. Yet again a single Ocean Sunfish was seen by a few.

Wednesday 9th August

After a good night’s rest we woke to find the boat turning around the Isle of Wight and finally docked, with the assistance of 2 tugs, at about 8.45am.We had learned the previous evening that the next sailing had been cancelled with all the consequential knock-on effects. It was lucky that we had chosen the date we had! The terminal building seemed eerily quiet as we walked through.

The trip had been a very good one for cetacean encounters with a total of 9 species being noted. However, it was unusual to see so few seabirds at this time of year. Most species of cetacean had been seen well, several exceptionally well, and it was great from a leader’s perspective to find so many of the group had become very keen participants and will hopefully enjoy many more cetaceans in years to come; we both enjoyed your company tremendously.

It is immensely gratifying from the tour leaders’ perspective to travel with people who really enjoyed the cetacean sightings that we had, and it makes it all so worthwhile for us. We both look forward to travelling with you again at some stage in the future.