Day 3

The clouds returned today which was probably just as well since I managed to get sun burned yesterday. The weather is improving all the time with the wind dying and the swell decreasing leading to better sighting conditions. Pilot whales were again flying the flag for cetaceans with a group of 16 appearing early in the day. Enda secured some good images of the group which was mostly adults with one juvenile. Things have gotten very quiet on the bird front with very few numbers seen today. We can add another to our list though after spotting a Pomarine Skua which brings the bird species count to 9. The other species we saw today were Fulmar, Gannet, Kittiwake, Manx Shearwater and Lesser Black Backed Gull. The crew conducted a trawl today to test the gear, it went quite deep and despite not catching much (a quarter of a bucket) it contained all manner of unusual species from the deep. We will be crossing the mid-Atlantic ridge during the night and with the weather conditions improving all the time hopefully there will be plenty to see tomorrow.

 Monsters from the deep (Enda McKeogh)

Monsters from the deep (Enda McKeogh)

Pilot Whale (Paddy O'Dwyer)

              Acoustic profile of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge its hard to see but the numbers on the left indicate a 1000m depts                   (Dr. Jon Fisher)