2010 05 03- Challenger Banks again- breath holders, dolphins and more undertakers |
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Written by Andrew Stevenson | ||||
Another twelve hours on the water with Sea Slipper and Michael Smith, my sister Jackie, Dave Norman and myself. We had another last minute addition to the crew. Today was exactly the same procedure as yesterday. We found our first whales where we expected to find them, within 500 feet of where we found them yesterday. Same behaviour, same location, no coincidence. Although locating them was easy enough, sticking with them wasn't as easy. And we even found the dolphins in the same place on the way home and more sea hares near the reefs. Today we did manage to get some fluke ids. One of the fluke ids. Not a great shot, but usable.
The above photograph was perfect for a fluke id except it was the wrong side of the fluke. However, as that fluke came up out of the water, a usable id is obtained of the ventral side of the fluke. This is demonstrated on the right with the image turned upside down for easier reference. We found a balloon in the water and with the wind direction being towards Bermuda the only explanation was a cruise ship which was passing to windward on the way to Bermuda. These balloons, especially white ones, are mistaken for jellyfish by turtles and eaten, often killing the turtle. We removed the balloon from the ocean of course.
And below, more dangers turtles face. It couldn't be more clearly marked. "5 knots no wake/turtles". How fast do you think the boat below right was going?
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