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Thursday, August 26
Posted Friday August 27, 9:30 am
Journal Entry
Thursday, Aug 26
Alex
Early this morning we spotted a pair of Blue Whales, shortly after the sighting Denise, Carol, Jeff, me, Geoff and Richard Sears went out on the Zodiac. I was about to see a renowned blue whale researcher in action! Richard Sears wanted to get photo identification of the whales and get a biopsy of the whales blubber. After much waiting the blue whales came about ten meters close to the boat!! Richard got some good photos and so did I! What I learned on this trip was that patience is very necessary for whale research. After much patience Richard got some wicked photos, then it was time for the biopsy.
We waited quietly for the Blue whales to surface; their average dive time was about 10 to 15 minutes. When they surfaced Geoff got the Zodiac as close as possible to the whale. We were about three meters away from the whale!! Richard, with his mad skills got the biopsy of the first Blue Whale. It was a little harder to get to the second Blue Whale; luckily we had another perfect chance to get a biopsy. As we came closer to the whale we slowly followed it and as we did we could see its gigantic body underwater. It was amazing!!
I feel so lucky to be here on the Sedna and to not only see the largest animal in the world but to see it up close. It was absolutely a once in a lifetime experience that I will never forget. That experience of seeing the Blue whales up close and personal and working with Richard Sears has made me realize that I want to spend my lifetime researching whales. I don't even mind those cold boring days with absolutely no whales! -
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Carol Francis, Chaperone
The Blue blew!
Yesterday I wrote on the blackboard near the kitchen, ou sont les baleines bleues? Lyne our cook helped me with the French, which means where are the blue whales? As our mechanic responded once, in the water! But where? The weather didn't cooperate for whale watching yesterday, although we had a super hike on Bonaventure Island, 8.4 km, around the whole island. The gannet colony was colossal, and the closest view of this bird in the world, very similar to penguins in their mating and raising of their chicks.
But we are here to see whales, and blue whales specifically… So when I heard the anchor coming up this morning about 6 am, I was out of bed quickly. We have two hour whale watch schedules, and if we were moving this morning, I was on the 6 am to 8 am whale watch. So I bundled up with three layers, and headed for deck.
7:05 am - Eureka, we have found our first blue whale! And we ended up staying with him, waiting for him to come up, for two hours and fifty-three minutes! I spotted a bigger blow than usual, and as I turned to tell Richard, our whale expert, he was already moving, as he had spotted it right before me. So I got to time the whale, as it would stay on top for 2-4 minutes to breathe, with visible spouts. Then it would get ready to dive by rolling its whole back showing its dorsal fin, and then going down to feed.
It first went down for seven and a half minutes, then intervals ranging from nine minutes 15 seconds to twelve minutes and a half. It got to be so predictable that I could finally eat some breakfast down below, and people on deck would disappear for 5-9 minutes, before coming back up for the next blow. What a thrill! We could spot a long scar below its dorsal fin that showed up as a white streak, and it also had a white dorsal fin.
But getting good pictures was tricky, as this whale was moving fast, and pretty consistently coming up on the backside of the boat from where it went down. And if it had the sun behind it, this would make the exposures too dark for good identification pictures. Finally, the lighting was perfect, and both Richard and student Phillip got great shots. Richard was able to identify it as Opera, number 161, a known male whale, although the scar was definitely new. So this will be added to the markings.
And then the whale decided, enough! It had been feeding around the ship, seemingly ignoring us except to always come up at a different angle than we were expecting. Student Jeffrey did most of the spotting from up top, while I would do the timing. But Opera must have wiped out the feeding area, as he finally took off behind us, moving away fast. We can now officially be the Blue Whale expedition! Great day so far!
My second whale watch started at 2 pm, and I stayed on watch an extra hour, as it has been as thrilling as, and totally different than, the first watch. We tracked three separate finback whales at a distance, and also tried to identify a humpback whale that stayed by the boat for a while, without showing the tail flukes during dives. This made identification impossible, but it was sure fun to watch the show!
Then we spotted our second blue whale! This one has been incredibly fast, and has given us a spectacular show, as it consistently throws its tail flukes high in the air as it dives. It was moving too fast to really track with the boat, so three staff and three students went out in the zodiac to track it.
Our zodiac's name is Musculus, which is the second part of the scientific name for the blue whale. However, this is a joke, as the zodiac is orange and rather pudgy. The zodiac is still out, but they told us over the radio that they got some great pictures. The last dive I saw, with the tail flukes high in the air, was about the prettiest sight I have seen in my entire life. Wow! There was a hushed sense of awe for all of us on the boat!
And what a beautiful day! The Gulf is nearly like glass and there is little wind. It is 17 degrees Celsius outside, which is 62.6 degrees Fahrenheit. When the wind is blowing, I am thankful we are here in the summer, as the chill factor makes me wish I had my squall jacket I used in Antarctica. But this is an awesome journey, and today has been super!
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Earlier entries below
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Thursday, August 26
Posted 3:00 pm ET
GEOFF, by phone
Hey everyone! We’re having a very successful day ... we were able to spot, photo ID and biopsy 2 more Blue Whales!! It’s been very exciting ...
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We are currently heading WEST continuing our search. We’ve also spotted some Atlantic white-sided dolphins! Everyone is having a great day.
Earlier entry below.
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 Thursday, August 26
Posted 10:10 am ET
(NOTE: NEW JOURNALS also up at Aug 25!)
GEOFF
Good morning!
We have just heaved anchor and departed Riviere-au-Renard to begin another day in search of the great Blue Whale.
Yesterday, was one of those magic days that you remember for a lifetime. We encountered the largest inhabitants of our planet - the Blue whale. Bigger than the dinosaurs these gentle giants continue to roam the oceans and share our planet. And thank goodness for that.
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It is such a powerful and profound experience to share space and time with these magnificent leviathons. They are just so enormous and graceful. You feel something that is hard to explain. I feel humbled in their presence and fortunate to . Their mystery, power, size and grace. Even as I try and write this journal, I'm at a loss for words. Its at times like this that you wish you were a better writer.
Throughout the day, we found two Blues, and also lots of Humpbacks, Fins, White-sided dolphins and Harbour porpoises. The second Blue whale we spotted turned out to be a "new" whale. In other words, we could not find a match for it in the catalogue of over 400 Blue whales that MICS has collected over the last 26 years.
Despite their size we still know so little about them. And it is easy to understand why when you realize that during the entire seven hours we spent with the Blues yesterday, we only actually saw the whales on the surface for a total of 10 minutes.
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We were successful at getting some excellent photos of both sides of the whale, as well as its flukes (only 15% of Blue whales fluke). And we were successful in getting a biopsy, so this information will be a very valuable contribution to the research data for the St. Lawrence. Since it was a new whale, we had to name it! Sarah came up with the name "Fingles".
It's presently 8:30am and we're still looking for our first whale of the day! There is a relaxed and easy mood on board this morning, which is nice, but the first whale will undoubtedly spice things up!
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Webmaster note: For the armchair expeditioners - take a look at this video clip:
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BLUE WHALE TAGGING ... watch a live movie! © MICS Richard Sears
CLICK HERE (Note: .MOV file - high speed recommended)
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