Thursday, September 13, 2007
We woke up to a thick fog bank off Snug Harbor and scrambled eggs prepared by Ashley. We finished up our post-breakfast chores and sat down to voyage planning for the day. Our pager alerts informed us that no killer whales had been spotted, so we decided to calibrate all of the hydrophones. We lowered the hydrophones tied together like a bunch of bananas off the port side, and a speaker off the starboard. Alex, Tim, and Ashley recorded tones at various gains. Todd prepared homemade mayonnaise for an egg salad that Sam and Shannon whipped up for lunch. After lunch and coffees all around, the students began analyzing preliminary data. In the afternoon, Gato Verde headed out of Snug Harbor and Tim hoisted the main for a bit of sail training. We deployed the hydrophones again and recorded a passing steamer and ferry while collecting data on range, latitude, and longitude. After practicing jibes and chicken jibes, we headed north for Stewart Island and secured a mooring buoy in Redi Harbor. After a very refreshing sunset swim, we sat down to a Greek meal of briam cooked by Alex.
Read More
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Today, we got an early start and raised the anchor before 8 a.m. Motoring down the west coast of San Juan Island, we spotted Ruffles with two females. This was a rare opportunity as the Gato Verde was the only boat in the vicinity, so we got to enjoy the killer whales on our own. Unfortunately, once we deployed the hydrophone array, we realized that the three killer whales were silent and not vocalizing. The orcas headed southwest and we followed in the same direction, trailing the hydrophone. We met up with the rest of J pod, as well as members of K and L pod in between Vancouver island and San Juan Island. Kenna took ID photos, while Wessal, Elise, and Heather gathered data on calls, time, latitude, longitude, bearing, and behaviors. We observed spyhopping, tail slapping, and breaching. We headed back to Roche Harbor to enjoy stuffed mushrooms and corn for dinner.
Read More
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
After breakfast at Snug, the Gato Verde sailed south along San Juan Island. We heard rumors on the radio that J pod was offshore, so we headed towards Victoria. We found a tight formation of killer whales and deployed the hydrophone array. There was lots of spyhopping, as well as occasional breaches and tail slaps. We followed the group of orcas back towards shore and caught up with them again near Lime Kiln. Their formation had broken up slightly and the killer whales were more spread out. We continued south to False Bay, taking a number of different recording of killer whale vocalizations, before turning around to head back to Snug Harbor where we would meet up to head for a talk at the Whale Museum in Friday Harbor. On our way back up north along the coast, Elise spotted a small pod of Dall’s porpoises and we all watched from the bow as a number of individuals took advantage of the Gato Verde for some bowriding pleasure.
Read More
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
The first thing we had to do today was head to Roche Harbor to pump out our holding tank, or black water, which was at full. On our way out of Roche, Liz, Wessal, Heather, and Scott calibrated our holding tank and sewage system by pouring a 5 gallon bucket into the heads onboard and noting the centimeters on the holding tank. We did a lot of sailing today—deploying the screecher and jib, and tacking back and forth. In the afternoon, Jason and Kenna boarded the dinghy (Gatito) and motored a distance away for a localization experiment. After being certain no marine mammals were within sight, they played a recording of a hammer and then killer whale calls with an underwater speaker, while the rest of the group listened the sounds and collected data with the hydrophone array. After making 3 passes to test the accuracy of our localization algorithms, Mike headed the Gato Verde back to Snug harbor in the cold fog where Wessal and Liz prepared a delicious veggie curry.
Read More
Monday, September 3, 2007
We woke up in Snug Harbor for the second group’s first full day on the Gato Verde. We motored through thick fog, heading south along the coast. Elise and Heather took up watch on the bow and pointed out logs and kelp.Off Kanaka Bay, we deployed a hydrophone to make this group’s first recording of killer whale calls. We tested out a possible gunkhole anchorage at Kanaka Bay, but mostly dredged up mud and kelp. Shannon spotted a mother harbor seal with a pup swimming in the bay and a number of seals were just outside the bay as we headed back up the coast of San Juan Island. On our way to Roche Harbor, we deployed a high frequency hydrophone to attempt to record vocalizations of harbor porpoises.
Read More
Saturday 9/1/07
Snug Harbor to Snug Harbor
Got a call from Giles saying KW were between False Bay and Lime Kiln. Dave Ellifrit of the Center for Whale Research volunteered that they might be heading north, but not definitely. We needed to pump out and pick up Captain Mike, so we headed for Roche Harbor. Mike and Jason arrived just as we finished pumping out and Mike took the helm as we steamed through Mosquito Pass. By that time the J pod had headed south and diverged from the southern end of San Juan Island (Marla was with them by then). We took the hypotenuse and encountered the pod just N of Hein Bank. Straitwatch approached to see who we were and we met Hillary and Sally. Tim talked Hillary into doing a few drive bys and we recorded her at high and low speeds at ~400m range. Then we followed the fleet back towards False Bay and caught up to the pod leaders around 5 pm. Just as we deployed the array and heard a few calls while heading north, Ruffles and Granny made a sharp left turn and headed SW. We waited a bit, then made a similar turn. Slowly the off- and on-shore whales headed back south. We paralleled and intermittently heard great calls. The final half hour or so was the best with a lone juvenile approaching the boat, making some powerful calls, and then rejoining two adults (females). Some 20 minutes later, we heard a group of (3?) whales foraging and then tracked them (including magnetic bearings from Todd’s hand-bearing compass) as the passed us. Both encounters led to successful localizations!
Read More
Twitter
LinkedIn
Facebook