Marine Science and Sustainability School Science log

Week 1 at sea

9/26/05, Monday, 14:55-15:45, 48o 38.375' N, 123o 13.869 W, travelling N, 3+ distinct groups, high slack current
Southern residents (J+K+L) travelling from Kellett Bluff northward towards Turn point. We intercepted in about the middle of their widely dispersed pods, attempted to get well offshore from them, and then drifted. With main raised to maintain orientation and lowered 2 hydrophones through starboard aft corners of the Gato Verde's trampolines. We heard whistles and a few calls as they (and some harbor porpoises) approached, then mostly quiet as and after thy passed. Substantial boat noise from passing power vessels and possibly the Canadian destroyer. Obtained ID photos.

9/27/05, Tuesday, traveling N...
Encountered L2 pod as we left Garrison Bay. Cut engines and drifted as they passed by offshore from our position. Then motored south to peek into JdF Strait as some whales were sighted going W at Race Rocks. We saw and heard nothing, so we drifted E with current into shipping lanes as we talked about sewage. (How should one decide how to choose between dumping in Canadian waters versus pumping out in the U.S.? Where Does it go after being pumped? Does Peter Ross pee in Haro Strait?) We then motored N to check out Small Pox, but headed to Westcott in the end.

9/28/05, Wednesday
Fog covered Haro in the morning. Winch and meteorology class extended to around 11:45; ate lunch and headed out of Westcott Bay as the fog appeared to lift. Drifted twice with tide and tested hydroears, solved some noise issues, and tried the fish finder in deeper water.

9/29/05, Thursday
First big wind day. Left Snug Harbor anchorage with new gear from Val's nearby boat and practiced upwind sailing in 20-25 knots and 1-4' waves. Tried out techniques for heaving-to and drifting, deploying both the "ears" and a deep (~120'), weighted hydrophone. Didn't see orcas but had an exciting close encounter with Dall's porpoises and a harbor porpoise. Anchored in Roche Harbor, sheltered from the southerly, slowing wind and played there with one of Joe's hydrophones, listening to crabs or shrimp tap on our cables.

9/30/05, Friday
A much calmer day allowed us to drift with the southern residents as they travelled, widely dispersed, northward from South Beach round Turn Point. Courtney and Nicole deployed the ears and managed to get some fair recordings of the very vocal and often echolocating orcas. Brett and Freddie devised a new float to get a hydrophone off the boat and into the water without picking up too much noise from the air/water interface. Laura and Celia obtained a bunch of photo IDs and listened to passing ships. And Freddie lashed the fish finder to the stern pushpit stanchion and learned some new things (about interference sources and the importance of avoiding bubbles). As the sun set, we motored eastward to the north end of Jones Island for a night on the dock.

10/01/05, Saturday
Training day for Judy; motored from FH through Speiden channel, did a few tacks in N Haro, and then anchored in Parks Bay with a posh yacht and yellow cat.

10/02/05, Sunday
Field day in FH; Todd departs and Rachael arrives

Week 2 at sea

10/03/05, Monday
Left FHL dock with Judy at the helm on Monday morning as Val headed to the doctor. Rounded Cattle Point with VLJ waving and cell phoning re Stellar sea lion splashes on rocky islets S of Shark's reef. Headed out to whales travelling from Middle to Hein bank. Observation 1 was a brief (about 20 min) deployment of ears and B&K. We then repositioned (Ob2) further north as they crossed Hein Bank and proceeded back towards False Bay. S of False Bay we had a close encounter with a mother and calf; they passed directly under the boat and may have rubbed against Laura's hydrophone. We anchored in Snug Harbor and picked up Val (and coffee cake!) with the dingy in the evening.

10/04/05, Tuesday
Motored and sailed (a bit) south to Ob1 at 13:40 off Eagle Point. Repositioned southward about a mile and drifted during Ob2 from 14:10-15:20. Finally, we moved northward to a position about 1nm W of Pile Point and drifted N/NE during Ob3/b (15:55-17:05), observing a "greeting" ceremony. (See BR Marantz files 45+ for amazing close vocalizations, synchronous calls, and echolocations.) Ended up later than usual, and decided to tie up to the Roche Harbor dock after pumping out.

10/05/05, Wednesday
Orcas gave us a break as they hung out at Point Roberts most of the day. We conducted drifting science planning discussions with fruitflies in the Doldrums and convergent kelp fields. See Freddie's report for marine mammal sightings and Nicole's pager plots for humpback and transient positions. We rounded Cattle Point and anchored at Fish Creek in Griffin Bay at about 16:00. With the extra time, Laura, Rachael, and Scott tried a calibration and engine receive level experiment.

10/06/05, Thursday
After our first anchor watch and Val's successful trip into town for a doctor's appt, we motored out to False Bay and drifted south about a kilometer during Ob1 (11:40-12:50). The highlight was being examined by a male cruising and echolocating about 20m off our stern. We steamed SE based on pager info, passed 2 individuals foraging off of south beach, and joined whale watch groups again about 0.5nm SE of Iceburg Point. Whales were bound from Rosario, heading SE, then SW, and eventually W/sw/nw and we had one great passby with Luna's mom and brother passing under us from the stern starboard quarter. Rachael mentioned that the calls sounded like Luna even before she id'd the incoming individuals. Laura got a good id on the mother. We then tracked down a buzzing (the port engine bilge pump) and tried our first "sync tone." Finally, we discussed what to do with the bilge water and ended up that we (again) didn't know enough to make fully informed decisions or cost/benefit analyses.

10/07/05, Friday

10/08/05, Saturday

Week 2 at sea

10/10/05, Monday
Moved from FHL dock to FH pump out and ran errands. Then planned passage and headed S in San Juan Channel, sighted a Stellar in Shark's Reef (1536), deployed towed deep hydrophone (with bottle/shield) 1nm S of Watmough Head (1700), and then anchored in Aleck Bay.

10/11/05, Tuesday
Awoke in Aleck Bay after hearing tankers in Rosario during anchor watch. Drifted near intersection of shipping lanes at south end of Rosario Strait, repositioning to our starting point once, and dragging long hydrophone over shallow sill unexpectedly. Heard no calls, but spoke with Susan and Ken, eventually learning the whales were in Admiraly Inlet. We steamed south toward intended Port Townsend anchorage, but intercepted JKL (and Ken) near Partridge Bank and its extensive kelp beds. Observation 1 (1527-1544) was near north end of the kelp bed and acquired sound files that seem to have clear directionality in the headphones as the whales headed N toward Cattle Point. Observation 2 (1821-1842) was brief well offshore of SJI SW of False Bay. Observation 3 was closer to shore, but plagued with cable noise. Observation 4 was much quieter, but a little late as the few whales still obviously nearby were already passing the boat, heading SSW approximately into the quarter/gibbous moon. After a safe transit northward dodging kelp and sea birds, observation 5 (2221-2247) was a listening post just outside of Snug Harbor. Despite nearby purse seiners anchoring, we may have heard a few distant calls.

10/12/05, Wednesday
Spent morning getting biodiesel from Patrick and running FH errands as Todd and students took GV from Snug Harbor to Roche to pump out, refill water, and get donuts as well as diesel (38 gal biodiesel, 30 gal fossil diesel). Observation 1 was off False Bay in rising winds (20-25 knots from the S) with whales traveling southward and purse seiners setting at the end of the observation. Deployed ears, first with 1/4 jib keeping us oriented downwind, making 2.5 knots through the water; later we turned port beam into the wind and kept the jib up, seemed to slow through the water and kept the ears parallel to the vessel and only 1-2 meters upwind of the lifelines. Observation 2 was slightly further south, still off False Bay with whales traveling/foraging south or southwest, but with barely audible calls and/or no calls/clicks. We ran on beam and broad reaches back to Snug and anchored in 20-25knots alongside purse seiners.

10/13/05
Sailed N from Snug, deploying deep towed hydrophone to listen to a passing ship. Then we sailed across Haro Strait to Mondarte to see birds and test ears, elephant ears, and directional hydrophone. We listened and watched for whales, looking N to Turn Point area, but heard and saw nothing. We then returned to Fish Creek via San Juan Channel, taking a few hours to peek out S of Cattle Point and try to measure ambient sound and listen for the missing whales in the early evening hours. We mostly observed 2 passing tankers, then ran dark into Griffin Bay dodging kelp and then (struggled) to anchor in mixed rocky/mud/shell at Fish Creek.

10/14/05
Left Fish Creek anchorage just after day break, then floated S of Salmon Bank as tankers rolled up the Straits of Juan de Fuca and Rosario. We recorded 3 ambient sound files during Observation 1 (08:30-10:20) using the elephant ears, saw Stellar and harbor porpoises as we drifted north listening, but did not hear whales prior to bumping into them near Pile Point. Observation 2 (11:20-12:55) began with the deep, towed ITC and switched to the ears once we were near them (11:55). After motoring to repisition, we changed from towed instrument to elephant ears, beginning Observation 3 (13:14) about 0.5 nm W of Andrews Bay. The whales continued northward slowly until reaching the southern edge of Mosquito Bay, then reversed direction and headed south and then offshore when we left them circa 14:30.

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