Part Deux: Return of the Observer.

I should have updated this sooner since I’ve been back on board since Saturday evening. However bad weather has lead to poor sightings and little else to report.

We left St.Johns just after 5 on Saturday evening. Having only arrived on board at 4 I only managed a few short hours of observing.  The conditions were poor with thick fog and rough seas. This resulted in no cetacean sightings. I did manage to see a few birds but most left us after we got further and further away from land. Fulmars, Gannets and a single great Skua were the sum total as far as variety goes.

The conditions Sunday morning were not much better. Rough seas and thick fog that only eased off in order to give hope that it was lifting only to return stronger shortly after. With visibility reduced to a kilometre or less for most of the day I wasn’t very hopeful of seeing anything. To my surprise I did spot two whales early on in the day and after consulting with a higher power they were confirmed as Fin whales. This was followed up shortly after by another whale which disappeared into the fog as quickly as it appeared prevent me getting an id or an image. There were plenty of Fulmars around today and a few Shearwaters but we didn’t encounter any other species. On a different note we did see an ice berg just after lunch. It was much smaller than the one we saw on the first leg but none the less still impressive.

 (Fin Whale, Paddy O'Dwyer)

After not getting much sleep Sunday night due to very big swell and high winds, I was relieved when the captain said it was too rough to go up to the crow’s nest. Instead I was able to conduct my watch from the comfort of the bridge. Given the terrible conditions all day it wasn’t a shock that I had only one cetacean sighting, a blow not far from the boat. As for the birds Fulmars made their predictable appearance along with a few gannets as well as some pomarine and great Skuas.

Conditions today were better and I was able to return to the crow’s nest to do my watch. Despite the occasional patch of fog it was a good day for sightings. There were two cetacean sightings in the form of blows. The first encounter was of two animals but they were too distant to confirm a species id. This event repeated itself with a single animal a few hours later providing plenty of blows but too far off for a proper species id. The trend of seeing less in terms of bird numbers compared with the last trip continued. Still there were four different species of birds encountered today Fulmars, Great Skuas, plenty of Longtailed Skuas and a very lonely Gannett all on its own. We will be coming up on the mid Atlantic ridge tomorrow evening so hopefully the weather is good and there will be plenty to see.   

(Longtailed Skua, Paddy O'Dwyer)