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SWSS PhotoID  Daily Report August 11th                 St Petersburg FL
 

Arrived Vinoy Marina, St Petersburg, (whence we had departed some 8 weeks ago) at 21:00.
 

I've been an advocate of using motor-sailors for offshore acoustic and individual-based studies of cetaceans
since, working with Hal Whitehead in the early 80s,  I helped pioneer this approach with sperm whales and
I've seen the potential for gathering some of the information that's needed for the management and
conservation of sperm whales in the Gulf of Mexico more effectively using this method since I became
involved with work here several years ago.  However, even I couldn't have hoped for such a productive first
season.  We owe this in part to some lengthy periods of favorable weather, a boat which adapted well and
reliably to its new role, but particularly to the virtually non-stop (24/7) dedication and hard work of  an
exceptional team on the boat and solid support when needed from the shore.
 

Well, that's enough from me.  JG

SWSS PhotoID  Daily Report  10 August 2004                                27 51N  84 30W
 

The weather remained unsettled through a night of dodging thunder clouds and suffering the odd deluge, as
we continued to zig-zag our way south monitoring the hydrophones regularly.  Overnight we picked up the
first reports of tropical storms Bonnie and Charley on the NOAA web site: they seemed well away to the
south west and Bonnie was not predicted to reach our area until the weekend.

Detected a small group of whales mid-morning and started tracking in 20-25  knots of wind.  The noon
hurricane update from NOAA was a bit worrying with Bonnie now predicted to make herself felt in our
general area as early as Wednesday night.  With St Petersburg still 48 hours sailing away a more direct route
towards Tampa Bay seemed prudent.  We managed to get one set of fluke photographs, probably more for
form than anything else, before laying a direct course to Tampa Bay. We will continue to monitor
acoustically while in deep water.  By early evening the wind had moderated enough to stop for an hour or so
to carry our hydrophone calibration tests.
 

As I write (04:00) conditions are excellent, motor-sailing in a light breeze at 7 knots.

SWSS PhotoID Daily Report 9th August 2004           28 35N  86 48W
 
 
 

We reached deep water and streamed the hydrophone by 03:00 and started monitoring.  The morning
weather was dominated by thunder clouds and bouts of heavy rain.  This can have quite an effect on our
monitoring ability.  Heavy rain creates white noise which drowns out everything else on the hydrophone.
Weather conditions improved as the day progressed and we heard a whale at around two in the afternoon.
This turned out to be another lone animal, a presumed male, though not as large as those seen on previous
days.  The degree of segregation that seems to occur in the Gulf if quite remarkable, it may reflect
differences in feeding conditions in areas like the De Soto Canyon, favoring larger males over females, but as
we know so little about the distribution of sperm whale prey here this is pure conjecture.  We followed the
whale through a couple of dive cycles and then tried to find another animal, which we had heard very
faintly, before dark.  We didn't manage to get good acoustic bearings on this however and went back to
monitoring.

This is our last day of effort in the survey block extending from the Mississippi Delta to the De Soto
Canyon.  Once the daily CTD has been completed we begin to head south towards St Petersburg, surveying
off the Florida coast and hoping to be able to pick up whales and identify individuals along the way.
 

SWSSPhotoID Daily Report  8 August 2004   29 62N  87 19W

Sunday was a day of rest and recuperation for once, at least it was until lunch time.  Left Pensacola in the
afternoon and headed back to sea.  There's still enough wind to make for good passage making as we head
south towards deep water under sail.  However, the seas are laying down nicely and the wind is dropping all
the time, tomorrow promises to be workable at least.

SWSS PhotoID  Daily Report August 7th 2004.    Pensacola Fl.

The wind increased overnight so that by first light it was blowing 30-35 knots.  This moderated a little
through the morning to a steady 25 knot wind.  With so many breaking waves we could hear little on the
hydrophone.  The forecast was for windy weather to continue through the 8th so we decided that the best use
of our time was to head for nearest port (Pensacola) and refuel so that we would be sure to have enough
diesel through the last part of the leg.  Arrived Pensacola at 18.45.

The early morning was far from promising with 20 knot winds and rain squalls giving way to persistent
rain.  However, we picked up a a whale on the hydrophones around mid day and decided to start tracking it.
Luckily the weather moderated through the afternoon and conditions became quite workable.  Our whale
turned out to be another large lone male making long dives of over an hour.  With these single animals the
data comes in slowly, with a chance of an encounter less than once an hour, but because they are relatively
easy to track it comes in surely.  Over several dive cycles we were able to collect all the data we needed, ID,
length, extended recordings and a biopsy.

Continuing to survey in the De Soto Canyon area through the night with increasing winds.  The forecast for
the next few days is not favorable.
 

Daily Report SWSS PhotoID.  August 5th 2004   29 04N  87 50W

The wind picked up overnight as we continued to survey in zig zags trending east.  By first light, with an average
wind of 15knots, we were making good speed under sail alone.  and were able to save fuel and enjoy some good
sailing - becoming interesting with the occasional squalls reaching 35knots, providing plenty of reefing practice.
Passed and recorded a drill platform (Ocean America) and at around mid-day had our first sperm whale contact of
the day.  This turned out to be a single large male and we tracked it through several dive cycles collecting id and
length images, extended recordings and a skin biopsy.  It's dive behavior was impressive: fluke to fluke times were of
the order of 90mins, surface times seemed to be about 12mins so its dives were around 1 hour and 18mins.

We left this whale at dusk continuing to survey.  Overnight the wind is picking up to 20knots.  Working with whales
in these conditions will be taxing.

Daily Report.  SWSS PhotoID:  August 4th 2004  28 34N  88 56W

Picked up whales overnight (as usual) and were with them till night fall, but even so, it was a day with some
frustrations.  Things started well enough as we got into a largish quite dispersed assemblage of what seemed to be
immature males (largish with no dorsal fin calluses).  Later though as the wind picked up to 15 knots we found it
increasing difficult to track animals.  In part it was the sea state which made sighting conditions poor, but the
whales we were with also stated to move quickly - and of course directly up wind- so that it was all we could do to
keep up with them.  Its not clear whether they are really swimming this fast through their entire dives or whether
they are in effect getting a boost by swimming in different currents at depth than we are at the surface.  We
remember similar days on the Gyre too.  As a consequence the number of successful photo-id encounters and spirits
fell through the afternoon.  Well mine did at least.  I feel that  this day certainly belonged to the whales but we'll be
glad to start again tomorrow.

Daily Report 3rd August 2004  28 14N 88 48W

We successfully tracked the group that we had picked up so late in the day yesterday through the night so that we
had our first fluke photographs just after dawn.  Through the day the whales led us back towards "Devil's
Tower", the rig we had recorded at yesterday and were for the most part cooperative, remaining in "foraging
mode" and fluking up before dives.  We were able to identify most of the group and also attempt some biopsy
sampling.

One of the joys of using digital cameras is that one can check the quality of images and the identity of the
animals on them almost instantly.  We were pretty sure that we had seen many of the whales before and this was
confirmed when Nathalie looked at the images at the end of the day.  She recognized at least 8 animals from a
group encountered in much the same area on 28th of July.  We decided to leave these animals once it got dark and
a CTD had been completed.  We are now at the very western end of this survey block and we are beginning to
work our way east towards t he DeSoto Canyon.

Daily Report  2nd August 2004  28 21N  88 57W

We reached out survey box and streamed the hydrophone at around 02.00.  A very faint acoustic contact in the
early hours was lost when a tanker crossed between us and the whale.  Continued to survey through the day
with no sperm whale contacts, but were able to make calibrated recordings near a drill ship "Discover
Enterprise" and "Devil's Tower", a deep water rig.  Speaking to the rig on the rVHF they told us they had
recently seen what they thought might be a right whale.  Their descriptions better fitted a Bryde's whale
though.  Brydes' are the most frequently sighted baleen whales in the Gulf, but still a noteworthy encounter.
Luckily they have photos and we exchanged email addresses to be able to follow these up.  Early evening we
had our first strong contact with sperm whales, we saw a couple fluke up before dark but didn't collect any
photographs.  We are tracking the group through the night hoping to have a full day with them tomorrow.
 

Daily Report.  August 1st.  29 14N 88 31W

We completed all our tasks ashore in the morning and left Gulfport at 13:00: refueled, reprovisioned, and
somewhat rested and recuperated.

Then followed the long motor towards deep water against a slight southerly breeze.  As I write at midnight
we are threading our way through the last of the inshore rigs and should be ready to stream the
hydrophone and start monitoring in a couple of hours.  Our plan is to work along the survey block which
stretches from the delta to the De Soto Canyon.

Saturday 31st of  July 2004, 10 pm (Bert Jones Yacht Basin, Gulfport)

Today we almost finished re-supplying the vessel, and we expect to be ready by lunch time tomorrow. We will then head south to
the deep waters and start monitoring. On leg four we will concentrate effort in the eastern part of the study area and will be
working all the way to the De Soto Canyon.

Friday 30th 0f July 2004, 10 pm (Bert Jones Yacht Bassin)

We spend the day doing much needed maintenance on the vessel and on the research equipment. Tomorrow we will fill with diesel and fresh
water, resupply with food etc. We also keep monitoring the weather, and if all looks good we will leave on Sunday.
 

Thursday 29th of July 2004,  7 pm (Bert Jones Yacht Basin, Gulfport)

After leaving the whales last night we headed north towards Gulfport, surveying on the way. Around 3 in the morning we
reached the 200m contour line and pulled in the array. We just arrived in Gulfport and will enjoy a fresh water shower as well as
a full night sleep. Tomorrow we will start resupplying and doing maintenance jobs.

Wednesday 28th of July 2004, 10:30 pm (28 deg 40.3' and 88 deg 33.2')
 

We left our last group of whales last night at dusk and headed north north west. By 2 in the morning we had acquired a new group of
whales in water depths of about 1500 meters. We followed it during the rest of the night and spent the entire day with it. It was another
perfect day, with light wind, calm sea and a large group of sperm whales around. This group had a real tiny calf with it, which must
have been just a few weeks old at the very most, and more likely just several days old. We took about 20 good identification
photographs, recorded hours of codas while the entire group socialized during the morning, and documented many breaches. The
highlight of the day was definitely when a cluster of  7 whales came by our drifting boat, brushed against it, passed underneath it and
resurfaced on the other side.

Tuesday the 27th of July 2004, 8 pm (27 deg 48.7' and 88 deg 24.1')
 

This was another very productive day under an ever hot sun. We followed this last group of sperm whales through the night and are still
with them as I write. For about 24 hours they took us steadily south west, covering about 30 nautical miles.  We did not see any whales
with tag in this group. There was at least one calf with this group, possibly even two. If there were two different calves (data analyses
back on land may shed some further light), this will be the first group that we have seen in the northern Gulf of Mexico with two calves.
This would suggest a higher calving rate than we previously thought. We took about 15 good identification photographs as well as
length measurements and we recorded codas in the afternoon. In the morning we also saw a beaked whale, just a few hundred meters
from the vessel, most of its body was out of the water at one point, and it was likely to be a Cuvier's beaked whale.

For the entire day we had a mix of blue and green waters, switching from one to the other, as well as strong easterly current (about 2
knots). The CTD cast of tonight was a bit different from last night and showed a small layer of slightly less saline water as well as lower
sea surface temperature.

We are currently in about 2300 meters of water and are leaving this group of whales. We will be surveying deep waters for most of the
night and we intend to track any group we encounter after leaving this one. If we do not encounter any whales in these deep waters, we
will make our way back to the slope off the Mississippi River Delta and hopefully work with a group for at least part of tomorrow. On
the 29th we will make our way back to Gulfport to resupply with fresh water, as well as diesel and food

Monday, the 26th of July 2004, 8 pm (28 deg 07.3' and 88 deg 07')

For the last 24 hours we have been surveying the area of higher chlorophyll concentration, mainly south of 28 deg. It has been a very quiet day
without any encounters with sperm whales nor other cetacean species. However, at 5h30 pm, when getting close to the northern edge of this area of
high productivity, we heard a group of sperm whales and saw a group of pantropical dolphins. We tracked the sperm whales using the directional
hydrophone and we were soon in the middle of the group and could see some breaching and lobtailing. We just had time to take a few identification
photographs before the sun went down. In the last 4 hours the wind has increased and we now have 12 knots of wind and numerous white caps. If
the wind does not increase more, we will attempt to stay with this group for the night.

The encounter rate with sperm whales was lower in these deep water than it has been on the slope south of the delta and in the Mississippi Canyon.
Between leaving the whales yesterday and encountering this group today, we spent 20 hours searching, while in the study area we seldom spend
more than 8-12 hours between encounters.

Subject: Daily Report 25 July 2004
   Date: Sun, 25 Jul 2004 20:24:08
 

Sunday 25th of July 2004, 8 pm (28 deg 20.2' and 89 deg 07.4')

After leaving the group of whales last night, we zig-zagged south east and north east through the region of high chlorophyll concentration to depths of
over 2000 meters. We didn't hear any whales for the whole night, nor the early morning. At 11 am, we were close to the northern boundary of the region
and just a couple of miles south of the rig Ursa. At this point, we heard our first group of whales since leaving the last encounter. Before tracking it, we
did a calibrated recording 500m away from Ursa and were able again to communicate with the rig via the VHF radio. We also did a CTD cast there in
order to obtain a sound velocity profile.
The group of whales took us away from the rig, and away from the region of higher chlorophyll concentration (although the boundaries of this region are
likely to change day by day and we do not know the exact boundaries for today, the details of the analyses will be done once we are back on land). It
was a small group of whales of maybe half a dozen individuals. One of these individuals had a yellow tag on the right side and we obtained a good
identification photograph of it. Another individual had a split dorsal fin, a very obvious feature, making it a very easily recognizable individual. It is hard
to know what may have caused this split in the dorsal and whether it was an old propeller wound or not (similar wounds are often observed in dolphins).
The group moved steadily north-north-east until 8 pm, and we are now about 12 miles NNE of Ursa. The group was in typical foraging behavior until
about 2h30 in the afternoon (small clusters of 1 or 2 individuals and fluking up on average every 50 minutes) and we managed to take about 10 good
identification photographs. At 2h30, the whales went into socializing behavior, just logging at the surface, shallow diving (without lifting their flukes)
and emitting codas. They also breached and lobtailed. We were able to record a large amount of codas and thus we have now a good idea of the identity
and lengths of the group individuals as well as their repertoire. We are still amazed at our high rate of encountering groups of sperm whales. A quiet
vessel like we have must greatly increase our detection range and is making it so much easier to find whales, track them and work with them. Since
leaving Gulfport on the 2nd of July (beginning of leg 2), we had only one day were we didn't hear or see any whales!
Right now we are leaving this group of whales and getting back into survey mode. We will be going South-South-East to get back into the area of high
chlorophyll concentration and will be zig-zaging through this area tonight and tomorrow.

Saturday the 24th of July, 8 pm (27 deg 31.2' and 89 deg 45.6')

We just had another fantastic day with everything almost perfect. Last night we started the survey of the high chlorophyll region and we had our first
encounter with sperm whales at 5h45 this morning in about 1000 meters of water. The timing was perfect as, at sunrise, we were in the middle of the
group and started taking identification photographs as soon as there was enough light. We had 5 to 10 knots of winds and a cloudless sky giving us
excellent conditions to spot blows.  During the entire day we took 19 good identification photographs and must have identified most (if not all) of the
group. This groups had about 8-10 individuals and a very small calf. The calf was very curious and he repetitively came close to the vessel to investigate
us. One time, very conveniently, he stretched himself just alongside the boat, almost touching the hull. We were able to mark the tip of its tail and tip of
its snout on the deck and measure it afterwards. He seemed to be 3.3 meters. Obviously this measurement is not very precise, but it is safe to say that the
calf was less than 4 meters in length. This is interesting as the literature states that sperm whales calves are borned at 4 meters and this one was definitely
not a new born as he had no fold and was able to swim very well. During the course of the day he was often left at the surface by himself for long
periods of time. At 4 in the afternoon, the whales stopped foraging and went into typical social behavior (large clusters at the surface, no fluke-up, coda
vocalizations). Again we had some beautiful sightings with whales rolling around, swimming up side down, rubbing each others and lots of open jaws.
None of the whales we saw in this group had a tag.
During the 14 hours that we followed this group, the whales hardly moved 10 miles in straight line, which tend to suggest high feeding success. We also
saw many defecation both in slicks just after fluke up and during their socializing period confirming the high feeding success. This is consistent with
being in a more productive area than the previous few days. The other major difference with previous days was that we never saw a single platform, rig
or ship for these 14 hours, quite a change from the Mississippi Canyon and from the area just south of the Delta.
Tonight we will carry on our survey of this high chlorophyll region and hopefully we will find another group of whale during the night or early morning.

We successfully followed this group of whale through the night and were taking the first identification photograph at sun rise.
The group took us back north east, more or less to the same spot where we initially found it. Although rigs are a constant feature in the landscape around here, the group of whales never took us very close to any of them. In the morning, a seismic ship moved into the area and was just a couple of miles from us, however, it has not been firing any airguns.
Once more we were blessed by very calm wind and flat sea and thus were able to collect a large amount of data on this group of whales. We have now been working in our study area (part of the northern Gulf of Mexico) for about a month and we are gaining a good understanding of sperm whale distribution and spatial organization around rigs and oil/gas platforms for this time frame. Long term data will shed some light into the  variability in sperm whale distribution and spatial organization as well as the factors which maybe influencing it. After 60 hours with this group of whales, we left it at sunset and we are now heading for deeper, but more productive, waters in the south south east. This may give us the opportunity to document a different habitat (more productive waters, less rig density) and should help our understanding of this population.

 Thursday 22nd July 2004, 8:30 pm (27 deg 51' and 90 deg 10')

We just had a fantastic day, with whales all night and all day, no squall and no water spout, but slightly on the hot side. This
group, of about 10 individuals, had no calf, and we didn't see a single whale with a tag. They traveled about 35 miles in the
last 24 hours, going South at first, then following the 1000m contour line for a few hours and then going back North. We took
about 15 identification photographs, recorded codas and took biopsies to relate genetic to vocal repertoire. We also
documented dive time, surface time, small scale movements, percentage of time socializing, and percentage of shallow dives.
At dusk we did a CTD cast to document the whale habitat. We were again in green water today, but not as murky as the
previous days.
Right now, we are still with this group, and if the weather allows, we will follow them for the night and tomorrow. "Long term"
observation of a group of whales is very valuable to give us information on the "normal" variability in behavior.
Around 8 pm a seismic ship just came into acoustic range. This is most interesting as we have behavior data for the last 24h
for this group, and hopefully we will get behavior data during seismic surveys and after.

Tuesday 21 July 2004, 8 pm (27 deg 59.2' and 89 deg 52.6')

We stayed with the group of whales all night, they didn't move much, and in the morning we were close to where we had found them the previous day. The day was again windless, making for very glassy waters. The only disadvantage of such calm weather is that the blows are almost impossible to see and thus we needed to track each whale individually and position the boat close to where it was going to surface in order to be able to see it. This is more time and energy consuming. Despite that, we had a productive day until 14h30 when a squall dumped an incredible amount of rain on us for almost two hours. We even managed to get the first fresh water shower we had in many days. This was the same group as yesterday. We recorded many more codas and took photo-identifications and length measurements of most of the group. We now have good information on their coda repertoire,  identity, small-scale movements and behavior.  We lost them during the squall and thus we resumed our survey going SSE down the west side of the Canyon. At 18:30 we encountered a new group about 15 miles from where we had left the last one. We just had time to take an identification photograph while dinner was being served before the light was too low to do anything. If no squall come during the night, we will stay with them all night.

Tuesday 20 July 2004, 8:30 pm (28 deg 17.8' and 89 deg 43.4')

A day of glassy water and no wind was most welcome after the bumpy and wet week-end. We
made our way into the Mississippi Canyon last night without hearing a single whale. By 10h30 am
we were on the west side of the canyon close to the 500 meters isobaths when we heard a group of
whales. We tracked the group for the day and will try to stay with it tonight. This group had a
medium/large size calf and we are quite sure that we have never encountered this group previously.
Once more the group spend quite a lot of time socializing and making codas, and thus we obtained
a large amount of good quality recordings. We also obtained several fluke identification photographs,
although the whales seemed to be shallow diving about half of the time. With each photo-identification
we also obtained two independent length measurements (using the acoustic and the fluke method).
By tracking them all night and hopefully all tomorrow, we should gain most interesting information
on their small scale movement patterns, time they spend socializing versus time they spend foraging,
as well as the identification of most individuals in the group.

The water was again very green and murky today, with a ~ 1 knot NE current. At dusk we did a
CTD cast to document the thermocline depth as well as the thickness of the brackish water layer.

Monday 19th of July 2004, 8:30 pm (28 deg 45.4' and 88 deg 53.8')

The winds started dying down this morning and, except for high swell, we would
not have known that it had been blowing for the last 48 hours. From dawn we started making
our way back north from the deep waters (~1600 m) just south of the Mississippi River Delta. At
11 am, in about 800-900 meters of waters, we encountered a group of sperm whales that we
tracked until sunset. This group had a calf (medium size) and one individual had a tag with what
seem a white base and a black tip on the left side of the animal. However, the light was bad, and it
was very difficult to make out any colors. Once more we had very green waters and strong current
(about 2 knots to the NE) which made tracking more difficult. The whales did not socialized, but
around 6 pm they all became silent, at one point we thought we heard a couple of feint codas.
It is interesting to note that almost where ever we go in the study area we seldom spend more than
12 hours without hearing or seeing a sperm whale. The encounter rate is thus very high, suggesting
a high relative abundance. Before leaving this group tonight, we did a CTD cast which again showed
a layer of brackish waters in the top 10 meters or so. Tonight we will make keep zigzagging west and
will track any group of whales that we may encounter.

Sunday 18th of July, 9 pm (28 deg 45.2' and 88 deg 37.1')

It was a bumpy 24 hours with steady winds of 25-30 knots, as well as heavy rains and 35 knots of wind during squalls. Although these
strong winds from the west prevented us to get exactly the courses we wanted, we managed to survey the area between 88 deg and 89 deg,
from the 500 meter contour line almost to the 2000 m contour line, which means that we had a good opportunity to survey part of the LCE "Titanic". During the last 24 hours we heard whales a few times, a group of whales and a lone whale in waters
about 700-800m deep and a single whale in waters deeper than 1000 meters. Unfortunately the winds were too
strong to event attempt to do a CTD cast. We hope that the wind will die down tomorrow so that we get a chance
to photo-identify and document whale behavior in this part of the study area.
We are still trying to move west, as the forecast is for more strong winds in the east part of the study area and
lighter winds in the west part. However, making ground against such west wind is not easy and our progress is a bit
slow. As I write now, we just heard a couple of whales, but the wind is still too strong for an attempt to follow
them.

Saturday the 17th of July 2004,  9 pm ( 29 deg 18.1' and 88 deg 25.3')

After a dawn start we are now approaching the 200m contour line and will drop the array and start
monitoring for sperm whales clicks as soon as we reach waters deeper than 200 meters. Since leaving
Gulfport we have steady winds of 20-22 knots from the SSW, such winds are good for survey work,
but would be far too high for working with whales. Unfortunately the forecast is for similar winds for
the next two days and we may use this opportunity to survey the parts of the study area which didn't
have a very large coverage so far, i.e. the cyclone currently located east of 89 deg and in waters deeper
than 1000m.

Friday, 16th July 2004, 10 pm (Gulfport, Bert Jones Yacht Basin)

Today we finished all the resupplying and we are ready for another 13 days at sea, with as much
diesel, fresh water, food and propane that we could fit on the vessel. We will be leaving at dawn
tomorrow after a last full night sleep, as tomorrow we will be back with a routine of  hours watches
at night. The rest, resuppling and maintenance was very needed and now all of us are ready and eager
to get back out.

Thursday 15th of July 2004, Gulfport Bert Jones Yacht Basin 10 pm,

Today we did some of the much needed maintenance like oil and filter changes as well as starting
resuppling with food and giving the vessel and the equipment a very good clean. Tomorrow will be
dedicated to buying the fresh food, filling the tanks and the 32 jerry jugs with diesel and, if time
allows, taking a much needed rest. We expect to be back at sea at day break on the 17th of July.

We arrived in Gulfport this afternoon and started resuppling with food. We will spend the next two days here, working on the boat, resuppling andhopefully getting a bit of a rest after a successful but exhausting 2nd leg.

Tuesday 13 June 2004, 8 pm (28 deg 46.3' and 88 deg 46.2')

During the night we tracked the same group of whales that we followed  since the 12th in the afternoon. They were going steadily south south west
and moved about 25 miles during the night. Just before daybreak they emitted a few codas and became silent for a couple of hours. Fortunately
they kept their course and by 8h30 we were in visual contact with them. We were still in very green waters with a layer of brackish water on top of
the more saline sea water.
The whales were not fluking but still seemed to be in foraging behavior, staying at the surface for 5 to 10 minutes before arching their back and
diving. However, they never lifterd their flukes completely out of the water. About a minute after leaving the surface, they were starting usual
clicking. We have never seen this behavior previously and were wondering whether the whales were feeding on different prey than in other areas,
requiring less deep dives.
We again saw  the small calf that we saw the day before, with some marks in its dorsal fin. The calf followed the boat closely for about 10 minutes
and we managed to have a very good look at it. Although it is very hard to estimate distance and length at sea, we all had the impression that this
calf was quite a bit smaller than 4 meters, and possibly no larger than 3 meters. For all the time it was swimming beside us, there were no other
whales visible at the surface.
IN the early afternoon a squall came in with heavy rain and winds of 20-25 knots and we were not able to stay with this group. Therefore, we
turned around and started making our way to Gulfport, still monitoring every 15 minutes for sperm whales clicks. We expect to reach shallow
waters (200m) a bit before dawn, where we will bring in the arrays. We should be in Gulfport by tomorrow afternoon.

Monday 12th of July 2004, 8 pm (28 deg 36.1' and 88 deg 58.5')

Today we made our way back into the area south of the Mississippi River Delta, zig-zagging between the 500 and 1500 meter isobaths.
For the entire day, we have been in very green and murky waters, Mississippi waters. Around 2pm, at a depth of about 900 meters, we
picked up a group of whales that we followed for the afternoon. The animals in this group were even more spread out than in other
groups. Despite this distance between individuals, they tended to coordinate their dive cycles, as all the whales were silent at the same
time. We saw a very small calf in this group that wasn't swimming easily. Surprisingly it was left by itself at the surface when the mother
dove, without any other whales in sight. These whales were skittish and we couldn't approach them closer than 80 meters without them
shallow diving and disappearing. Therefore, we were unable to check whether any of these whales had been tagged.
We did a CTD cast when the light became too low for photo-identification. We will try to track these whales during the night, however,
the strong current in the area (2-3 knots) and the fact that they are all silent for 20 minutes at a time may make the night tracking very
challenging.

Sunday 11 July 2004, 8 pm (28 deg 12' and 89 deg 50')

Another productive day in the Mississippi Canyon, as we picked up a new group of whales on the west slope of the canyon at 2 am this morning
and followed it until now. We started taking fluke photographs as soon as we had enough light for photo-identification (about 6h30 am),  and
we have taken at least 15 photo-id pictures during the day. This group, of about 10 whales or so, had no calves, and we could only see one
whale with a tag, however, the color was very hard to identify, even at range of about 40 to 50 meters, and what we thought we saw, was not a
whale which was in our list. In doubt we didn't biopsy this whale to avoid repeated biopsies of the same individual. By early afternoon, these
whale switched from foraging to socializing behavior and we recorded several hours of excellent codas.
Almost all of the groups that we have encountered so far were found in an area roughly 40 by 40 nautical miles in the canyon. Right now there
must be a high concentration of whales in this area as we keep encountering different groups. Such an area is rather small for sperm whales as
they can easily move 50 miles per day and as they have a home range of over 500 miles. Furthermore, in the last few days we have found a
relatively high percentage of defecations in slicks. All these observations suggest high feeding success in the area.
Tonight, we will survey the head of the canyon, to water depth of about 500 meters. If a group of whales is heard, we will track it till the
morning, if not we will slowly make our way back east and survey part of the area south of the Mississippi River Delta. We expect to be back in
Gulfport on the 14th of July to resupply in water, diesel and food.

Saturday 10 July 2004, 8h30 pm,  28 deg 15.3' and 89 deg 18.9'

Last night and this morning we made our way back into the Mississippi Canyon without hearing a single sperm whale. By early afternoon, we
were again in the Canyon over depths of about 900 meters and there we heard a group of sperm whales. We started tracking it, and soon after
we saw the first blow. None of the whales in this group fluked during the 6 hours that we were with them. They all shallow dived, even when we
were not approaching them. They were not in typical sozializing behavior either and didn't make large clusters at the surface. We recorded a few
codas during the afternoon, but most of the time the whales were silent. We still managed to follow them for the afternoon and we documented
their small scale movements as well as their behavior. It is interesting to see that, even in the absence of an obvious disturbance, the
whales spend so much time shallow diving and not clicking.
One of the whales had a tag, yellow at the base and red on the tip (left side), and as this whale had never been biopsied, we took a biopsy of it as
well as tag photographs.
We will attempt to follow this group during the night, however, this will only be possible if they do not spend most of their time silent.
Like most evenings, we also took a CTD cast.

WDRV "Summer Breeze"
27° 20.4N    90° 15.3W

Friday 9th of July 2004, 9pm

After six days of tracking sperm whales non stop, and six days of beautifully calm weather, things changed slightly. Today we only heard one
whale briefly at 8 am this morning. The individual was feint, and the noise generated by sport fishing boats operating prevented us from
finding this whale. Furthermore, the weather today was far from ideal, with  an average wind speed of about 15 knots, and working with whales
would have been more difficult in these conditions. However, the windy conditions were perfect for surveying under sail, and we acoustically
surveyed the west part of our study area, up to 90 deg 30 min w, sailing transect lines between the 500 and 1500m isobaths. We are now
heading back east, surveying additional areas that we didn't monitor on our previous voyage.

A day without whales has allowed us to do some much needed maintenance on research equipment as well as providing an opportunity to give
the boat a good clean, it also allowed the crew to  have a little rest. If the weather calm down again tomorrow, we will be ready for a few more
days of tracking whales before our next port call.

Thursday, July 8th, 2004

During the night we acoustically tracked the group of whales we'd collected data on the day before in the hope of collecting id photos
and, possibly, genetic material to compliment the vocalization data we'd collected.  With this information we could analyze the
relationships between the whales in the group and how that relates to the codas recorded.  By 0600 acoustic tracking shifted to visual
observation as we regained visual contact with the group.   It is difficult to be certain that the individual whales in a group have not
changed when tracking acoustically but evidence that we were indeed working with the same individuals showed it self in the form of
a yellow tag with a dark antennae and a notched dorsal fin, both of which we had seen on the previous day.  There was also a small
calf within the group making a repeat appearance.  By 0700 we took our first identification photos and by 0800 we made an attempt
at collecting a biopsy.  Throughout the day we took some more id shots while working with the group.  The afternoon brought poorer
visibility and squall lines, forcing us away from the whales in an attempt to avoid some on coming lightening.  After a slightly damp
dinner we began surveying the Mississippi Canyon in search of more sperms whales.  A light southeasterly breeze allowed us to do so
under sail enabling us to conserve some of our precious diesel fuel.

 Wednesday 7 July 04,  9 pm,

During the night we moved west of the canyon, surveying the deep waters and then coming
back into "shallower" waters. At 11h15 am we started hearing a few whales (27 deg 58.6 and 89 deg 48.6),
and half an hour later we made the first sighting. At first we thought that we were with a small group
of whales (4-5 animals), but after following them for several hours we found out that it was a group of at
least 9 whales and a small calf. The whales socialized for 6 hours in the afternoon, making codas almost
continously. We recorded these codas for the entire time, often sailing gently behind the whales with the
engine off and thus obtaining excellent recordings. These will be most useful in understand how (or if)
coda repertoires vary during the day, and how similar or dissimilar this population of whales is from the
Caribbean and the Atlantic population.
We also saw several breaches.

Tuesday 6th of June 2004,  9 pm

Another day of flat calm weather, hot sun and lots of whales. By 7 am this morning we were taking the first photo-identification picture, and we kept busy until 7 pm. We started the day with a group of whales and then followed a single animal (young male?) which left the group. It remained by itself for a few hours before rejoining a group  in the afternoon (the analyses of the identification photographs will tell us whether it was the same group than in the morning). We obtained a biopsie sample of this "lone" whale to confirm whether or not it was a male. Once more the whales were very dispersed and mainly in clusters of one. However they did not seem to move a great distance and we spent most of the last 48h around 28 deg 06 and 89 deg 36, in the Mississippi Canyon. The whales did not seem to socialized at all today.  Despite that we obtained excellent coda recordings when two whales swimming in opposite directions met, then shallow dived before heading off together at the surface. In the last three days we took over 40 good identification photographs, most of these with recordings of their clicks and ranges to their flukes. These data will give us two independant measures of the animal lengths.

After a CTD cast we left the group and stearted surveying the waters west of the canyon as well as the deeper (south part) of the canyon

Monday 5th of July 2004, 9h30 pm

Another long and hot day, but also another very productive day. Once more we were in
contact with whales by first light, and spent the entire day with them, taking
photo-ID, recording etc. These whales went back and forth across the middle of the
Mississippi Canyon. As I write, we are still with them and planning to track them
through the night. Two of these whales had tags, and we got good
photo-identifications for both as well as tag photographs, one had a blue and yellow
tag and the other one had whitish and/or yellowish tag (we will need to look at the
pictures to get more details). There was also a small calf with this group. Despite
the group being very dispersed and mainly in cluster of one, we took about 15 good
identification photographs. If we manage to follow them for another day, we will
obtain good information on their social organization as well as on their small scale
movement.

In the morning we had a beautiful sighting of about 20 pilot whales milling around
the boat, these included a large male and a small calf.

The weather has again been good to us today, with light wind and calm sea, lets hope
this spell of good weather last.

At first light we were in acoustic contact with a whale, but rain and squalls
prevented us from obtaining an identification before 10 am. After that the weather
settled down and we had calm seas and no rain for the whole day. This whale led us
to a group, and we spent most of the day following the group, taking
photo-identification, measuring their length, recording codas and first clicks,
etc.
Two whales in this group were tagged and we obtained good photographs of the tags
as well as photo-identifications.  It has been a very productive day and we
obtained about 13 identification photographs.
Defecations are much easier to see from a sailing boat than from a RIB as we are
slightly higher. Today we managed to collect three squid beaks from a slick, this
will be useful to obtain information about sperm whale diet in the GoM.
At the end of the day we did a CTD cast, and, as we were close to the platform
"Ursa", we made a calibrated recording of the platform. We made contact with the
platform and explained to them what we were up to, wishing them a happy forth.

Right now we are on the west edge of the Mississippi Canyon at 28 deg 09 N and 89
deg 07 W, and we are getting back on survey mode, heading towards the east edge of
the Mississippi Canyon.

Saturday 3rd of July 04, 8:30 pm

We crossed the 200m contour line at about 3am this morning, dropped the hydrophone
array and started the acoustic survey. We motored south-south-east, and at 11 am
we heard a single whale (28 deg 50 and 88 deg 20). We tracked him for 4
dive-cycles.  It was most likely a bachelor male.  He was too large to be a female
but too small to be a breeding male. We got excellent identification photographs,
recordings of  first clicks and obtaining length measuring data. During his last
surfacing we retrieved a biopsie from the immature male which will be used for
genetic and sex analyses as well as for stable isotope analyses (trophic level
information). By following this individual for 6 hours we obtained good data on
its dive time, surface time, vocalization behavior and small scale
movements.  This information will be useful in obtaining insight into foraging
behavior. This individual had rather long dive times, consistently 1h and 10
minutes for the 3 dives.  After leaving this whale we performed a CTD cast.  We
started monitoring for more whales, zigzaging in the direction of the Mississippi
Canyon.
As I write (8h30 pm), we are hearing some very faint and distant sperm whales on
the hydrophone. We will try to track them all night so as to be with them at first
light.
The weather today was excellent, light wind (5-10 knots) and calm sea. However,
the forecast is for a change, and not for the best.  Near gale force winds are
forcasted for the 7th of July in the western Gulf. We hope they don't come this
way and this good weather last a bit longer.

Friday 2nd July at 8pm

As planned we left Gulfport around noon today and are heading for the deep
waters a little east of the Mississippi River Delta area . We are currently at
29 deg 48 N and 88 deg 38 W and will be zigzagging west between the 500m contour
and the 1500m contour going through the area south of the delta and through the
Mississippi canyon. This is our very first day of flat calm weather and glassy
sea, and a dozen bottlenose dolphins just gave us a beautiful show (jumping
clear of the water and all). We are all well rested and in excellent spirit to
start this second leg. Hopefully the weather will stay like today for the next
13 days.

Subject: SWSS Daily report
    Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 09:19:31 -0500

We arrived in Gulfport on Wednesday after a successfull first leg. We were very pleased as to
how the vessel worked and especially how quiet it was and thus how easy it was to listen and
to track whales at night. We photo-identified sperm whales on most days except days traveling
from St-Petersburg into deep waters and on our way back to Gulfport. As we managed to follow
groups for longer than when using the Gyre, we found out that even when we thought that we
were only following a few whales, the groups were larger than expected and we ended up with 8
or more different individuals at the end of the day.

As soon as we arrived in Gulfport we started the re-provisioning as we were getting low on
about everything (mainly diesel, but also fresh water and fresh food). We also replaced the
noise suppressor which allows us to listen for whales even with the engine on. Last night our
last crew member arrived and today will be dedicated to finishing supplying the boat and
improving our "fixed" directional hydrophone. If everything goes fine, we expect to leave for
our second leg on the 2nd of July.

June 28th.  28 36'N  89 49'W

A day without whales!  We surveyed throughout the Canyon area and heard nothing all day.  We
were able to make recordings close to a production rig and a drilling vessel however.  We are
due in to Gulfport for a two day re-provision, refuel and crew change so we have decided to survey
across to the east to a position east of the Mississippi Delta.  With luck we will find whales
close enough to Gulfport to be able to spend tomorrow with them.

As I write this (01:00) we have a whale on the hydrophone - just a 110 miles from Gulfport -
decide to track it.

29th June. 28 26'N  89 06' W

Tracked the whale at first light, just a single one in the end, and had the photo-id taken
before breakfast.  A sudden increase in alternator electrical noise alerted us to a problem
with the suppressor (turns out it's shaken itself to pieces).  Without this we can't listen
effectively.  At 08:30, hydrophones in, heading to Gulfport while we repair suppressor.

June 27th  29 56'N  93 02'W

Having tracked the group through the night (they brought us about
25 miles south east to the mouth of the canyon, passing quite
close to a drilling rig on the way) we've had a largely routine
but fairly productive day photo-identifying the members of this
group as they come to the surface in dispersed clusters of one or
two.  Long days taking photographs of whales tails are needed to
build up a detailed picture of the individual whales in an area.
Through the day we have also managed to get some good photographs
of some of the remaining Satellite tags.  The wind dropped
through the day and we decided to winch someone (Christoph drew
the first short straw) to the first spreaders on the mast.
Equipped with a harnesses and a variety of rock climbing gear and
additional ropes to supplement the ship's halyard we judged this
"hairy" but safe.  The reason for the exercise was both to gain a
higher lookout point and also to allow us to use another length
measuring technique (when a picture is taken from a  known height
showing the whale and the horizon we can measure the angles from
the horizon to get ranges to the whale's dorsal fin and blow
hole).  In these light weather conditions at least it worked well
and we got good length measurement pictures for half a dozen
whales.

In the late afternoon the whales again went into a
socializing/resting mode.  More resting than socializing today it
seemed.  We spent several hours waiting as a small group blew
slowly at the surface, occasionally submerging to make shallow
dives.  The ocean, which before had been full of the click trains
of a dozen whales was completely silent.  In the end our patience
wasn't rewarded, dusk came without the whales stirring
themselves.  We decided to leave this group, that we have now
followed for two days, and continue surveying the Canyon area.

June 26th  28 09.7'N  N 89 24'W

The wind moderated overnight.  Arrived at the Canyon first light and soon found what
sounded like a large group of whales.  Collected IDs and length measurements from
dispersed clusters of ones or twos (typical of foraging whales) through the morning.
As we moved into the afternoon whales fluked up less reliably, we began to hear social
vocalizations (codas) and larger clusters started to form.  Soon quite large
socializing clusters (ranging from 6-12 whales) had formed on the surface and we were
able to track these under sail, using minimal engine while making excellent coda
recordings.  For much of the time a very small calf was in the main social group.  It
seemed to be recently born, its dorsal fin was bent over and its flukes were still too
floppy to work properly, beating ineffectually like a disk mop.  (In previous years we
have seen surprisingly few small calves in this population, so it was good to see such
an obvious neonate.)  Through the morning we had been encountering whales with satellite
tags still attached and what looked like scars from shed tags.  Now in a social group
of ten we could see three animals with tags still attached (not this years colors) and
two with what we took to be tag scars.  As the afternoon wore on the main group became
less and less active, lining up in a rank and blowing slowly.  We stayed behind waiting
for them to start fluking.  Then we spotted tall thin dorsal fins next to them, a group
of 6-8 pygmy killer whales (we think) were in amongst the group which broke rank,
started to mill and eventually adopted something like the classic Marguerite flower
defensive formation (heads in towards the centre), a pattern often reported from sperm
whale groups under attack.  For all their small size the pygmy killers, with their
ominous name had a threatening air as they silently flanked the group. We worried about
the newborn calf that had seemed  so vulnerable.  After about five minutes though they
were gone and the sperm whales settled down in their ranks again while we waited
hoping they would fluke.  As luck would have it they fluked just as it was getting dark
- fifteen minutes earlier and we might have got good photographs!

We decided to track the whales through the night - this is such an important group
containing so many whales that have been satellite tracked and to properly characterize
the group members now should add a lot of value to that hard won data.  We successfully
tracked them overnight using a combination of directional hydrophones and tandem arrays
and as I right now, first light, we still have the animals.  The wind is up again, but
we hope for another productive day.

A day of strong (20 knots plus) winds and few whales.  We have used this period of
windy weather to move over to the Mississippi Canyon, sailing quite fast
for much of the day and hearing only a few sperm whale groups on the way.  We will be
surveying in the Canyon tomorrow and hope to find some of the groups with S-tagged
whales in them there.

 nominal location 28 24'N  89 03'W

June 24th

The unseasonably windy weather that so dogged the S-tag cruise seems to have
continued.  Through today we have been surveying in the block off the Alabama coast with
the wind gradually strengthening though 15 knots - its now (midnight)  steady at 20.
We knew that the S-tag team had reported very few whales in this block this year so
decided to move through this area directly on our way to the Mississippi Canyon where we
might hope to characterize some of the groups with tagged whales in them.  We have
continued to pick up small groups though.  The wind has made it difficult to work with
them but we managed to identify and record whale in two different groups through the
day.  We  have also moved into "rig country", the skyline is now dotted with these
impressive structures.  One of our tasks this year is to make calibrated recordings of
the noise fields around deep water rigs when the opportunity arises.  Just such an
opportunity presented itself this evening when after photo-iding a group of whales we
found ourselves close to the rig Petronious at the end of the day and were able to make
a series of recordings.

For us the wind is not entirely negative, it's allowing us to cover ground while
conserving our fuel.  With the wind increasing and forecast for it to stay high through
tomorrow, we are pushing on to the Mississippi Canyon.  Ironically we are now hearing
quite a few groups as we go.  Having to sail by them is frustrating , but in this
weather we would be hard pressed to do anything with them..

Subject: Daily Report from Photo-ID Cruise
    Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2004 09:24:22 -0500

June 23rd

Today started with us photographing a fluking whale at first light (we had picked it up
and tracked it through the night) and ended with photo-id images of a couple of whales
fluking as dusk was drawing on.  We picked up another whale in the middle of the day
too.  We have continued to move through our survey  block off the coast of
Flordia, sailing when we can to conserve fuel.  It seems that we have been picking up
well dispersed whales in clusters of one or two.  Most of these have been relatively
large sperm whales which we think are maturing males - too old to stay in their mixed
groups but not yet large enough to  breed.  Our few visits to this area on the Gyre
have often turned up whales of this sort, there may be segregation of different types
of sperm whales within the Gulf.  These relatively simple encounters with small groups
are a gentle work in for us before the much more challenging large mixed groups we
expect to be working with when we reach the Northern Gulf in the next few days.

nominal location 29 12'N  87 48' W

Monitoring along the east Gulf off the Florida coast.

We were given a bit of a surprise this morning when we realized how much fuel we had
used in nearly two days of motoring.  Refilling the tank from the jerry cans on deck
confirmed that we have burnt 75 gallons and that the engine is rather thristier than
we had been told.  In the medium term we will have to increase our tally of jerry
cans and more immediately have decided to put in shallower zig zags on this leg to
make better use the available wind and give the engine a rest.

In the early afternoon had our first sperm whale contacts.  Seemed to be a dispersed
group of around five immature animals.  Spent the afternoon taking photo-id images
(probably most of the group were covered) and making recording for length estimation.

As I write this, 04.30 on the 23rd, we have just made acoustic contact with another
whale.  We are hove to track them till morning.

Post script.  On the whale at first light, got poto-id and length recordings (6.30),
so continuing survey

The summer solstice, the longest day - would be nice to think it was the
hottest too, but unfortunately it won't be.  Reached the 200m depth contour
around midday and decided to stream the hydrophone.  Before that though a
brief swim to inspect the underside of the boat.  Found the prop-shaft anode
to be nearly off, hanging on by a single bolt.  Manage to remove this
snorkeling, retapped to fit the bolts we have on board and replaced it  If
this had gone unfixed it would soon have led to serious electrolysis
problems.  The hull is quite badly fouled so cleaning this off, bit by bit,
will be a task for later swim stops.

Once the short (100m) hydrophone was streamed we were pleased to discover how
quiet it is.  The alternator noise has been completely removed by the earth
lines and suppressors.  We monitor the hydrophone carefully for 1 minute
every 15 dropping the engine revs to tick-over, and the engine can then
hardly be heard.  Listening conditions are such a dramatic improvement
compared to the larger vessels we've been using and we hope this will be
reflected in an enhanced ability to find and follow sperm whales.  So far
though, all we have heard are dolphins. Offshore dolphins seem to be more
active at night.  We hear them most of the time and they quite often come to
bowride - the phosphorescence they excite making them resemble underwater
comets as they zip around the boat.

   From: Summer Breeze
   Date:  Mon, 21 Jun 2004 10:39:24 -0600

At last, finally, we are at sea.  The last two weeks have been very intense.
They started in Galveston with building two towed hydrophones, finishing off
a new directional hydrophone in a streamlined housing and designing a compact
waterproof container to hold all the amps, computers sensors and switches
that normally fill a small lab on the Gyre.  This was followed by another 8
days in St Petersburg, where the vessel that we have chartered for this work
(a Hunter 46) is based.  Over a week have attempted to turn an ordinary
sailing vessel into an effective research platform. We've fitted a satphone
system, a GPS, a new quiet inverter, various suppressors and earthing cables
to reduce the electrical noise that plagues small boats, converted two of the
vessel's three heads to storage areas, and made a mount on the quarter for
the directional hydrophone, provided extra fuel storage with 22 jerry cans
lashed to the guardlines on the foredeck and generally enhanced the boat's
safety and sailing gear.  If all this wasn't enough we?ve had to do it all in
ways that are completely removable without leaving the slightest trace to
worry the owner.    Sometimes it has felt as though  we would never leave the
dock.

Now we are heading out towards deep water- its 130 miles to the 1000m
contour, this will take us around 24 hours and gives us valuable time to sort
things out, run through systems and procedures and get  used to life at sea.
We are motor sailing against a slight breeze, and at night its almost cool- a
blessed relief from the sapping heat ashore.

Once in deep water our course will take us zig-zagging along the shelf edge
to the De Soto Canyon - an area which has been good for whales in previous
years.