Subject: MPS Daily Report for August 3
Date: August 4, 2005 8:59:19 AM CDT
August 03, 2005 23:00 UTC 27 45.548N 82 38.046W
Daily Report MesoScale Project 3rd August 2005
We arrived at berth H31 Harborage Marina, St. Petersburg
at 19:00 Florida time. This isn't the boat's home marina
that we left from in June, that marina was swept away by
Dennis! The run in from the continental shelf break was
uneventful but useful, with much of the day dedicated to
backing up computers and hard drives, beginning to sort
out equipment, and fishing.
This has certainly not been a field season that has gone
according to plan. Our original intention had been to
spend our time following mixed groups in the Mississippi
Canyon and Delta regions, areas which in previous seasons
had been the real hotspots for sperm whales. Some of our
plan changes had nothing to do with the whales. Between
medical problems, three hurricanes, a couple of tropical
storms, and several serious mechanical breakdowns the
project has had more than its fair share of bad luck. It
is a testament to the hard work of a great team, both on
the boat and ashore, that the effects of these on the
project's work was minimized.
The most fundamental and interesting change though was in
the whales themselves. This year there has been a very
substantial change in distribution so that we mainly
found maturing males (rather than mixed groups) in our
designated survey areas. In fact the most "typical"
mixed group we followed was well to the west in an area
we were only in because of port calls forced by engine
problems. We are a long way from understanding the
significance of this population shift and what might
have caused it. However, that changes as substantive as
this can happen between years highlights the importance
of long term and regular monitoring studies if we are
to understand and protect this population and consider
anthropogenic influences in context.
This is the final daily report for the MPS cruise. We
close with several photos.
Team Photo
Team photograph showing, from left, Raul Diaz, Thomas Gordon,
Ricardo Antunes, Sam Dufresne, Sierra Deutch, Pip Bauerlein, and
Jonathan Gordon. Notable absentees are Christoph Richter, who
was Field Party Chief on legs 2 and 3, and Stacie Arms, who
provided invaluable shore-based logistics and support.
Sperm Whale Fluke
Sperm Whale Fluke.
False Killer Whales
False killer whales encountered during a break in the thunder storms.
Spotted Dolphin
Our last spotted dolphin encounter.
Subject: Daily Report MesoScale Project 2nd August 2005
Date: August 3, 2005 2:34:58 AM CDT
August 03, 2005 07:18 UTC 27 35.3N 084 36.6W
Daily Report Mesoscale Project 2 August 2005
A day spent transiting along the Floridian continental shelf drop off.
The morning brought a series of spectacular thunder storms with
torrential rain. In such conditions one can hear nothing but white
noise on the hydrophones, so there was nothing for it but to wash and
do laundry.
An encounter with a pod of around 18 false killer whales fortunately
coincided with a lull in the rain allowing us to make recordings and
take a few photographs. Although sperm whales were heard very faintly
in the mid afternoon these never strengthened enough to get a bearing
and there was no time to go and track them down.
After running some calibration tests on the hydrophone and the daily CTD,
two small dorado, caught earlier in the day, were barbequed to provide a
dinner that was more than usually delicious. We have now pulled in the
hydrophones and are heading straight for Tampa Bay.
Subject: Daily Report MesoScale Project 1st August 2005
Date: August 1, 2005 11:36:55 PM CDT
Daily Report MesoScale Project 1st August 2005
August 02, 2005 03:17 UTC 29 08.7N 087 15.6W
As I was writing yesterday's report, five in the morning, we
began to make acoustic contact with a group of whales and started tracking.
First light found us very close to a whale and we hove-to waiting for
enough light for photography. Our whale was joined by a second, then
another whale seen alone at the surface swam over and joined the group.
Often a bout of "coda" production preceded a whale joining. This continued,
until there were 6 whales together and no other animals could be heard
regularly clicking. These whales were in resting socializing behavioral mode.
They might surface close together, but then gently sink again, perhaps
floating to the surface vertically, so that just the rounded fronts of the
whale's heads could be seen bobbing the surface. There was nothing that
we could do but wait- sailing very slowly in a light breeze, hoping at
each surfacing they might change modes and start fluking up again. Meanwhile,
the day wore on. A thunderstorm rolled over us. We had to run off before
it, and some took the opportunity for a shampoo and fresh water shower. But
once the storm had passed, and we sailed back to the point we had left the
group, there they still were. At one point another three animals turned up
and the group, now nine, became more active, rolling over each other, briefly
forming the marguerite flower formation.
In point of fact this long vigil has provided some very interesting data.
We often see mixed groups in these socializing/resting modes, but we've
seen it with all-male groups far less regularly. We also made some
excellent recordings of coda vocalizations from the group..
Eventually, at around 14:00- in dribs and drabs and rather lethargically-
our whales began to fluke up. The rest of the day became something of a
scramble for us to collect data from as many of the whales in the area
as possible before dark.
We're now very much on our way back to St Petersburg. Although we are
still transiting through our survey block and monitoring the hydrophones
every 15 mins, we will only stop and track whales if we detect them during
daylight hours.
Subject: Daily Report MesoScale Project 31st July 2005
Date: August 1, 2005 5:42:06 AM CDT
Daily Report MesoScale Project 31st July 2005
August 01, 2005 10:23 UTC 29 15.N 087 25.6 W
Spent the day surveying eastward off the Delta and offshore from the
Mississippi coast. Detected whales in mid afternoon. Another dispersed
group of maturing males, roughly synchronized in their behavior and movements,
and about a mile apart. These seemed to us to be the largest whales we had
seen this year. The particular fiendish trick that these animals employed
today to thwart whale researchers was to rest absolutely dead in the water.
This means that once in position, the research boat can't move either and
has no steerage way. We just have to hang there, on tenterhooks, waiting
for the fluke up. We stayed with these animals until dark then continued
our surveying east toward the De Soto Canyon.
Its 05.30 local time on 1st August as I write this, we've reached the
Canyon and are just beginning to track a small group.
Subject: Daily Report MesoScale Project 30th July 2005
Date: July 31, 2005 5:43:53 AM CDT
Daily Report MesoScale Project 30th July 2005
July 31, 2005 09:43 UTC 28 37.5N 088 9.9 W
Today has been a day with more than its fair share of both frustration and interest.
Frustration because for most of the day we were trying to get data from three medium
sized males in the outer Canyon. This proved difficult for a number of reasons. The
first was that we were fighting a 3 knot current flowing to the southwest. It seems
this current doesn't extend to the depths these whales were diving so that during much
of their dives we were in water bodies moving in different directions and we had to
motor at near our top speed just to keep up with them: this made tracking difficult.
A second problem was that although these whales seemed to be diving and moving in a
roughly synchronized manner they were about a mile and a half apart so that switching
between them was tricky. Finally, although these male are the largest sperm whales that
we see here, and one might expect them to be tough and robust, they are particularly
wary of being approached at the surface and easily disturbed. Today's whales today
also seemed to have developed a new trick of changing their swimming direction just
before they fluke up so that our alignment for taking photo-id and length shots would
be messed up. On top of all that, it was a scorching hot, airless day!
So much for the frustrations, the interest came from the fact that we found ourselves
in the middle of a seismic operation so that we and the whales we were tracking
passed within a few miles of an operating seismic vessel. Opportunistic observations of
encounters between whales and seismic surveys can provide data sets that compliment those
from other sources, such as controlled exposures experiments.
Subject: Daily Report MesoScale Project 29th July 2005
Date: July 30, 2005 1:23:48 AM CDT
Daily Report MesoScale Project 29th July 2005
July 30, 2005 05:43 UTC 28 30.8N 089 31.5 W
We arrived at the fueling dock at Port Fourchon at 07:00. Raul turned up soon after
this and a party went off to do some shopping and return the rental car while the
boat was refueled and took on water. Summer Breeze departed at 14:00 with a full
complement of seven and commenced surveying in the Mississippi Canyon at 20:00.
Daily Report MesoScale Project 28th July 2005
July 29, 2005 05:15 UTC 28 36.8N 089 4.3 W
Continued to monitor along track lines in our Mississippi Canyon survey block.
We made contact with a whale around mid day, and managed to track it down and
get photo-id shots before we were enveloped in a thunder storm. Once it starts
to rain heavily all the acoustics are obliterated, and of course one can't see
either. The whale turned out to be another medium sized male.
In the late afternoon we again heard clicks which again revealed itself as a
medium sized maturing male. Another animal several miles from this one but
we didn't manage to encounter it on the surface before dark. As we commented
yesterday. Its very strange, these are the sort of animals which in previous
years we have only seen in the DeSoto Canyon block and along the Florida
coast.
Overnight we are heading in to Port Fourchon to pick up Raul who's foot
infection has recovered sufficiently for him to return to the vessel. We
will also take this opportunity to refuel, take on water and re-provision with
fresh supplies. We expect to be back out to sea in the early afternoon.
Daily Report MesoScale Project 27th July 2005
July 28, 2005 07:24 UTC 27 28.8N 089 42.3W
Overnight we arrived back in our primary survey block and started
following a zig-zag survey track. Our route took us quite close to
several platforms and we took the opportunity to divert and make recordings
close to these. In the late afternoon we heard clicks and started tracking them.
We found we had two medium sized males about a mile apart. There was just time
to track down each in turn, get photo-ids, lengths and recordings and have a
swim and do a CTD cast before supper.
In previous years we have rarely, if ever, seen these maturing males west
of the Mississippi. Their presence here may be another indication of a
change in distribution this year.
Subject: Mesoscale Report
Date: July 27, 2005 10:47:09 AM CDT
July 27, 2005 09:18 UTC 27 15.8N 091 28.7W
Daily Report Mesoscale Project 26 July 2005
Our whales seemed to go into a socializing mode in the very early morning,
around 05.30. This makes tracking much more difficult as one only has sporadic
codas to localize on, and the acoustic range of these is limited. It was a
relief therefore at first light to see a group of seven whales gently blowing
some 400m away. After an hour or so this sub-group, and the rest of the larger
group were back in "feeding mode" so the rest of the day was fairly
straightforward - but productive. With a large group and excellent weather we
managed to collect 46 good photo-id sequences, for most of these we should get
a length measurement from the fluke span too.
We are often struck by how animals that are almost the same size as adults behave
as though they are suckling (repeatedly diving below the adults's tail stock.)
One of the "calves" today was not only nearly as large as the adult it seemed to
be suckling from but had a well formed dorsal fin callus. (Dorsal fin calluses
are a reasonably good indication that an animal is a mature female.) One has to
have some sympathy for these adults apparently continuing to "support" nearly
fully grown animals. It's a situation with which many parents of teenage
children might empathize.
We've decided to leave this group and return to survey mode as we make out way
back to our main survey area and the Mississippi Canyon area.
Subject: Daily Log 25th July
Date: July 26, 2005 4:46:55 AM CDT
Summer Breeze. Location 26 52N 927W (probably 92 57W mkh)
MesoScale Project Report for 25th July 2005
We worked with out big group through the day yesterday. Often these groups are so
dispersed that it can take a few days to get good data from most of the individuals,
and it won't be until we analyses the photo-id images that we have a good idea of how
many animals there really are here. This group has quite a few calves in a variety of
sizes, ranging from very small to animals that look almost as large as an adult, but
show typical suckling behavior. Smaller calves don't perform long dives, they stay
closer to the surface and seem to track the adults through dives. One of the calves
today was quire well-marked, it had a cookie cutter shark bite on its right flank.
This allowed us to see that this particular individual swam with, and behaved as
though suckling from, three different adults at the surface! Of course, we don't know
that it was successfully taking milk on all of these occasions, but this does emphasize
that assessing the number of calves and their "mothers" might not be straight forward.
Although we had a long day of photo-id we weren't convinced that we had all the animals
covered yet so we decided to track the group through the night.
Subject: MesoScale Daily Report 25 July 05
Date: July 25, 2005 11:06:51 AM CDT
Meso-scale Daily Report 25 July 2005. Position 26 58N 93 09W
After following the group of 4 whales that we had picked on the morning of the 24th
(mentioned in yesterday's report) through a few dive cycles we felt that we had
reasonable IDs and lengths for all the animals, so we left them and continued. As
we are short of time and a fair way to the west of our original survey blocks we are
roughly following the 1000m contour rather than zig-zagging. We picked up whales again
in the early evening and had time to collect only a few photo-ids before dark. This had
the feeling of a large but well dispersed group and we were keen to have more time with it
next day.
First though there was some significant engine maintenance to be done. The fuel filters
have become blocked, so that the engine can't maintain full speed and the alternator (which
was rebuilt in Galveston last week) has ceased to charge. Luckily there was a light
breeze in the right direction and we could track the whales with this while Pip managed to
fit new filters and a new alternator -- a very hot and sweaty task at the best of times.
With a rejuvenated engine we tracked the group overnight and we've been working with these
animals all morning. It does seem to be a largish mixed group with several calves, at least
two of which seem very small. We've seen few of these this year.
Subject: Daily report 24th July
Date: July 24, 2005 12:27:21 PM CDT
Summer Breeze
24th July 2005
27'20.6" N 93' 38.4W
With all repairs to the electrical system completed we were able to take the boat for
a test run in the waters close to Galveston on the morning of 22nd. All systems were
in good operating condition and the boat was declared fit for sea.
Our primary investigator for this leg Jonathan was due to to re join the boat later the
same evening (replacing Christoph who has returned home) and as we were anxious to make
best use of the settled weather a final " to do" list was drawn up that would allow is to
leave in the early hours of the 23 rd. With fresh food, water and diesel on board we
departed the small craft harbor at the Texas A&M Pelican Island campus at 6 am, 23rd July
The 23rd was spent in transit running due south towards deep water to a position about
130 miles off the coast.During this transit we have made recordings of drilling operations
from some installations that we passed close to. In the early hours of the 24th we changed
course to the East heading towards a position transmitted from a tagged whale. Acoustic
contact was made at 08:30 am and by 09:30 we had visual contact, along with ID photos and
acoustic recordings, and by 10:30 four separate whales had been encountered and recorded.
So far none of the whales seen have been carrying a tag, so with luck there will be several
more animals in this area. It's great to be back out in the field again and we are all
looking forward to a successful last leg.
Subject: Summer Breeze is heading back out to sea
Date: July 23, 2005 9:40:59 AM CDT
Hello All,
Summer Breeze left TAMUG Small Boat Basin at 6:00 CDT this morning to head back to
survey for and carry out photo-ID work with sperm whales in the northern Gulf. Jonathan
Gordon flew in to IAH yesterday and met field team in Galveston yesterday evening, as planned,
and this morning Jonathan reports that the engine seems to be doing fine. Unhappily, Raul Gamboa
is not aboard (due to a foot injury. Perhaps he will be able to rejoin us later in the cruise -mkh).
Dr. Doug Biggs
Date: July 22, 2005 10:17:42 AM CDT
Summer Breeze
22 July 2005
Having suffered a comprehensive failure in the electrical system summer breeze was forced to make a
port call in Galveston.
During the past week the damaged wiring harness which runs throughout the boat has been removed and
completely replaced, in addition to the damaged and melted wiring the starter motor and alternator
were also affected. The starter has been replaced with a new unit, and the alternator has been completely
rebuilt.
In order to make the necessary repairs, areas of the boat have needed to be dismantled to gain access
to the engine , this has lead to considerable disruption on board, we are now in the process of making
the boat ready for sea. The repair schedule happened to coincide with a planned crew change, and Jonathan
Gordon is due to re join the boat this evening.
Our current plan is to make a short sea trial this afternoon. The trial will allow us to run the engine
up to speed in order to test the repaired systems. We will also use the sea trial as an opportunity to
re fill the diesel tanks. If all the tests go as planned we will re stock the boat with fresh provisions
and will hope to be ready for sea by late this evening once Jonathan is back on board.
The Summer Breeze has one final cruise planned for this season. This will take us from Galveston towards
deep water where we will resume our sperm whale photo ID and acoustic monitoring, and will end with the
boat being returned to her base in Tampa Florida.
Subject: In Galveston July 16
Date: July 16, 2005 12:51:05 AM CDT
We arrived in Galveston at the Small Craft Basin of Texas A&M
at 23:30 local time. We will begin repair work tomorrow, as
we manage to get parts.
Subject: Mesoscale Project daily report for July 15
Date: July 15, 2005 8:44:05 PM CDT
Location on 07/15/2005, 01:25 UTC: 29 14.453N, 094 28.062W
We have just been hooked up to a towing boat which will bring
us into the Texas A&M University-Galveston Small Craft basin.
Estimated time of arrival there is 23:00 local time.
Subject: Mesoscale Project daily report for July 14
Date: July 14, 2005 10:57:18 PM CDT
Location on 07/14/2005, 03:16 UTC: 28 17.706N, 092 28.922W
If we thought we had had bad luck so far (illnesses,
weather, etc.), then we really learned what it means
to have bad luck last night. After 1 am local time,
people on watch noticed smoke coming from the engine
and after shutting it down, were not able to restart
it. Closer inspection revealed that cables leading to
and from the starter motor solenoid had melted. This
morning, we tried whatever is possible out here to
get the engine started again, but without success.
All other systems, including the generator, are
running, so we have power and are fine and comfortable
otherwise. But without engine, we cannot continue and
so we changed course towards Galveston around 14:00
local time. We have been sailing at 2-3 knots for
most of the time during the afternoon, but the wind
has picked up a bit and we are now making 5 knots.
If this continues we expect to arrive at Galveston
early Saturday morning. Once there, we will
determine what caused the problem and carry out the
necessary repairs.
Subject: Mesoscale Project daily report
Date: July 13, 2005 9:31:25 PM CDT
Daily Log Mesoscale Team on board Summer Breeze
Position on 07/13/2005, 01:04 UTC; 27 29.754N, 092 23.723W
We arrived in deep water at 9:30 local time and deployed the
hydrophone array. Except for a group of about 8 bottlenose
dolphins an hour later, we did not see or hear any other
marine mammals. In the early afternoon, a seismic survey
ship passed our bow at quite some distance and we have been
hearing its air-guns firing all day.
We will continue surveying in a westerly direction for
another two hours and then turn south-east. The weather
here is calm and sunny, perfect for those sperm whales
to show up.
Subject: Mesoscale project daily report for July 12
Date: July 12, 2005 7:12:05 PM CDT
Daily Log Mesoscale Team on board Summer Breeze
Position on 07/12/2005, 22:36 UTC; 29 35.535N, 091 14.185W,
on the Atchafalaya river
We left the Municipal Docks at Morgan City at 16:40 local
time and are now steaming downriver, towards the Gulf and
open water. Our departure was delayed again, since Sierra's
luggage never arrived in New Orleans last night, but instead
had been flown to Lafayette. After picking it up from there
this afternoon and doing the final shopping, we left the
docks. It will be a 5-6 hour steam down the river and
through the channel. Then we are planning to head straight
south to gain deep water as fast as possible and to begin
monitoring. We will then survey in a westerly direction,
up to the area where the Gyre's most easterly survey ended.
And all of us are keeping our fingers crossed for lots of
sightings!
Subject: Mesoscale project daily update for July 8 (continued)
Date: July 8, 2005 5:03:11 PM CDT
Location on 07/08/2005, 21:43 UTC, 28 43.951N, 090 02.644W
We are sailing now in a north-westerly direction in good conditions.
Considering where Dennis is supposed to hit land and where we are
hoping to work on whales next, we have decided to seek shelter for
the weekend in Morgan City. We will be able to reach it by tomorrow
morning, well ahead of any bad weather predicted for this area.
It also will bring us further west and closer to our next survey
area. All forecasts predict improving conditions by Monday, and we
hope to be able to begin sperm whale work again at that time. In
addition, we are also keeping our fingers crossed that Sierra might
be able to join us again before we head back out to sea.
Subject: Mesoscale project update for July 8
Date: July 8, 2005 9:40:20 AM CDT
Location on 07/08/2005, 14:34 UTC, 28 46.125N, 089 11.751W
We have almost reached the southern tip of the Delta after a night of
smooth sailing. The new forecasts just came in and we are considering
our options. We will make a decision where to go in the next little
while and send another update with our plans.
Subject: Update mesoscale project for July 7
Date: July 7, 2005 9:13:21 PM CDT
Daily Log Mesoscale Team on board Summer Breeze
Position on 07/07/2005, 02:06 UTC; 29 44.583N; 088 02.531W
Just a quick up-date on our progress. Since leaving Pensacola,
we have had very smooth and enjoyable sailing. There is only
little swell out here, winds are below 10 knots, and the skies
are clear. Two pleasant events: we caught a mahi-mahi, and were
joined by two bottlenose dolphins for a few minutes of bow-riding.
We will continue in south-westerly direction towards the head
of the delta.
Subject: Mesoscale project daily report for July 6
Date: July 6, 2005 6:59:07 PM CDT
Daily Log Mesoscale Team on board Summer Breeze
Position on 07/06/2005, 21:56 UTC; 30 24.003N; 087 14.505W,
Bahia Mar Marina in Pensacola
We arrived at the Bahia Mar Marina last night at 18:30. In fact,
the way to shore turned out to be quite interesting. Just before
13:00, Raul heard a loud blow about 100 meters behind our vessel.
We identified it as a Bryde's whale, based on its size and shape
of the dorsal. Unfortunately we did not get a good look at is head
to observe the number of ridges on its head, which is the only way
to positively distinguish between Bryde's and Sei whales (Bryde's
have three ridges, Sei only one). The animal crossed our path and
then swam in a large circle along our starboard side (see Photo).
We tried to follow it but the sea was too rough to keep a good
eye on it and it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.
Bryde's whales are one of the least known species of baleen whales,
for the very reason that they used to be confused with Sei whales
during whaling days. So it was a special treat to see one of them.
Just an hour later, we had an encounter with a pod of rough-toothed
dolphins, which approached the boat to bow-ride for 15 minutes.
Both of these encounters helped take our mind of the rather rough
water we were traveling through.
We are restocking some fresh food and fuel, and will be on our way
again tomorrow, weather permitting. The plan is to sail westward
on the Intercoastal Waterway, thus avoiding the still very choppy
open waters of the Gulf, but at the same time getting out of the
way of approaching tropical storm Dennis. With any luck, we may
be able to begin surveying for sperm whales again once we are
west of the Mississippi Delta. This will give us an opportunity
to close a gap in search effort between the survey area of the
Gyre and our survey area.
Photo: The Bryde's whale passing our starboard beam.
Sighting location was 29 40.37N, 087 13.36W.
Subject: Daily report update Mesoscale project for July 5
Date: July 5, 2005 12:19:20 PM CDT
Daily Log Mesoscale Team on board Summer Breeze
Position on 07/05/2005, 16:56 UTC; 29 32.102N; 087 11.565W
Update: This time it's the weather that makes us turn north
towards shore. We had hoped to be able to dodge severe weather,
and that seemed still an option last night. However, this
morning the forecast put us on the north end of a belt of 25+
knot winds for the next couple of days. We decided to stop monitoring,
pulled in the array and are currently heading for Pensacola. We have
contacted the marine there, haven't been confirmed yet but we
are hoping that we can find a berth there until the 7th, by
which time the winds are forecast to settle down again.
Subject: mesoscale project daily report July 4
Date: July 5, 2005 3:22:21 AM CDT
Daily Log Mesoscale Team on board Summer Breeze
Position at 29 07.656N; 087 04.487W
We managed to track the group of whales we had encountered
yesterday throughout the night. Fortunately, they made our
job relatively easy, since they continued to click regularly
for most of the night, and pauses in vocalizations were brief
and far between. At some point, we had tracked them that closely
that we could hear their blows somewhere to the starboard of
our vessel. We wondered what, upon hearing these strange sounds
people in the old days must have felt, not knowing what produced
them. To us, these blows indicated that we were literally on the
right track.
The animals moved about 20 nautical miles in an almost straight
line towards the north-east. Once again, their orientation mirrored
that of the continental slope. Since we were that close to the
whales all night, we got the first ID photo just after daylight,
at 6:30 local time.
We worked with these whales all day, obtaining 15 ID photos. They
kept clicking and fluking regularly all day, while continuing their
north-eastward movement. They did not join in groups and socialize
at all while we were with them today. After a first glimpse at the
photos, we had five or six animals in the area (several IDs show
a very smooth fluke, which may or may not belong to the same individual).
By 16:00 winds had increased to above 20 knots, seas became too
rough to continue staying with this group and we decided to leave
them. In light of the threatening tropical storm to the south and
west, we agreed on surveying eastward. In contrast to our original
plan to survey block 2 on this leg, we will now work in block 1,
since the group of whales has taken us to the east already and to
avoid the fringes of the storm as much as possible.
Subject: Mesoscale project daily report July 3
Date: July 4, 2005 2:03:51 AM CDT
Daily Log Mesoscale Team on board Summer Breeze
Position at 29 04.959N; 088 06.591W
The Gulf greeted us with rather strong winds and our way out of
the Gulfport Channel and the route south was very choppy and wet.
We deployed the hydrophone array around 04:00 local time and began
our regular acoustic monitoring. We had planned to head south
almost into the middle of our survey area and then turn west.
However, just before we were planning to make the turn, at around
05:00 in the morning, we heard faint clicks. The next listening
station 15 minutes later confirmed that we had encountered a group
of sperm whales. We switched from surveying to tracking and by 06:30
local time we had seen the first blows. Even though the wind had
calmed down somewhat, the sea was still very rough and made spotting
and getting to whales difficult. The first few attempts ended in the
whale fluking before we were close, or in us loosing sight of the
blows between all the white caps.
Fortunately, the weather improved slowly during the day, and by 12:00
we had a good idea of how many animals we were dealing with and their
approximate distribution. This was a group of individuals that were
widely distributed, did not exhibit coordinated behavior, and we
estimated that there were four animals in the area. They were
clicking regularly and fluking up (see Photo 1). During this time,
they moved in roughly north-easterly direction. Interestingly, this
heading coincides well with the direction of the continental slope.
As usual, though, just when you think you know what to expect (in this
case: the animals remain separated and do not coordinate their behavior),
the whales topple all of that: At 14:30 local time, they stopped their
regular clicking and dives and started grouping. First, we had two animals
join together, than a third, while a fourth individual remained in the
distance. By 15:40, the fourth animal had joined the trio (see Photos 2
and 3). They were either logging at the surface blowing very slowly, or
they shallow-dove and disappeared from the surface for up to half an hour.
None of them clicked or fluked anymore. Finally, a fifth animal appeared
around 17:30. As previously, we first saw the blows at a distance, and kept
track of them. We never saw the animal fluke (although we may have missed
that in the distance) and this fifth whale did not click either.
The animals stopped vocalising and started to click again sometime during
our dinner break. We are currently tracking them and are planning to stay
with this groups throughout the night to determine if they continue with
their north-easterly movement.
Photo 1: Even though working on sperm whales involves
long periods of
patient tracking, when a whale is at the surface, things have to happen quickly.
Here, Christoph is taking the fluke ID photo (in front), while Sam measures the
distance to the
fluke (at back with laser range finder) from the bow of the Summer
Breeze.
Photo 2: View across the Summer Breeze, with the four
logging sperm whales
just recognizable right behind the stern of our research vessel.
Photo 3: Two of the socializing sperm whales with platform A (Ram-Powell)
in the background.
Subject: daily report mesoscale project July 2
Date: July 2, 2005 9:18:32 PM CDT
Daily Log Mesoscale Team on board Summer Breeze
Position at just outside Gulfport marina
Summer Breeze is heading back out to sea after our emergency port call.
Sierra received the necessary medical attention and is on her way to
recuperation. Unfortunately, she had to return home to allow her eye to
heal completely and without further complications. We are all hoping that
she can join us again for the next leg and wish her a speedy recovery!
While this means that we are now only 6 crew members, it also implies
that we have more space on the boat (out here, one has always to look
for the upside in everything!), and her cabin has already been reoccupied
(temporarily, we hope!) and without having to draw straws.
While in port, we have also taken care of some minor repairs and maintenance
and have restocked our fridge and storage spaces. Our plan is to head
south-west, roughly to where we had heard sperm whales on the 29th of last
month. We had not been able to work on them due to the heavy weather, and
had to leave them to return to Gulfport. From there, we will survey in a
westerly direction, as usual hoping for frequent sperm whale sightings and
good weather.
This leg will be 10 days long, and we are planning to be back in Gulfport
on July 11th for a one-night port call.
Subject: daily report mesoscale project June 29
Date: June 30, 2005 8:20:54 AM CDT
Daily Log Mesoscale Team on board Summer Breeze
Position at 28 38.818 N; 089 04.820W
As luck would have it, shortly after the whale we had heard last
night went quiet, two large barges passed us on both sides. Their
combined noises drowned out any other sound the hydrophones might
have picked up for about an hour. We kept sailing a search pattern
for another hour after the barges had gone, but still no clicks. So
we decided to move on. We heard clicks again just after 12:00 local
time, and after tracking for a short while, saw the blows of a whale.
However, it fluked before we were in a good position for a high quality
fluke ID photo. We had another acoustic contact two hours later, but
by now the constant drizzle had turned into rain and there were gusts
of up to 30 knots, so we were not able to obtain an fluke photo.
Unfortunately, one of our crew, Sierra, had developed a serious
eye infection over the last night. We had hoped that some of the
available medication on board would help, but by early afternoon,
it was clear that none of them were effective. So we decided to
leave that last whale and head for Gulfport. We are planning to arrive
there by midday tomorrow, and to stay for two nights. This will also
allow us to take care of some minor repairs and to restock with
fresh food. We have scheduled the beginning of the next trip
for Saturday morning, June 2.
Subject: daily report mesoscale project June 28
Date: June 29, 2005 7:56:39 AM CDT
Daily Log Mesoscale Team on board Summer Breeze
Position at 27.50 89.38
A day of monitoring, without hearing any sperm whales. The weather wasn't
favorable either, with strong winds and frequent drizzle. Today we reached
the western end of our survey area and began tracking in an easterly
direction. The day wasn't completely without high points, though. We
encountered a small group of melon-headed whales who weren't really
interested in our boat and disappeared quickly again. We also had
successful fishing: we caught two perfectly sized mahi-mahi, which
were a welcome addition for our dinner. Since four o'clock local
time we are tracking a single sperm whale, whose clicks we picked
up around 3:30. Unfortunately, the whale went quiet approximately
half an hour after we heard the clicks first. We are hoping to be
able to hear him or her again when the clicking resumes.
From: swss@tamug.edu
Subject: daily report mesoscale project June 27
Date: June 27, 2005 9:31:40 PM CDT
Daily Log Mesoscale Team on board Summer Breeze
Position at 27.46 90.47
Morning rain squalls seem to have become to the rule for us.
After we tracked the loose group of whales we had encountered
yesterday through the night, we had one visual sighting this
morning before we hunkered down against the rain. At the same
time, the whales went quiet and we searched for them for a
couple of hours. By the time the rain stopped, we had acoustic
contact with the whales again. We worked with these four whales
all day to make sure we got photo-IDs of all of them. It was
pretty hard work due to the consistently strong winds, and
the widely dispersed distribution of the whales. This meant
that we often saw blows but did not get to the whale in time
for a fluke shot. Nevertheless, between yesterday and today
we got IDs of four individuals, which was the number of whales
we had initially estimated to be in the area. None of the whales
had calluses, and their non-coordinated, regular dives of around 45
minutes made us suspect that they were small, immature males feeding
in the area. When we left them around 20:00 local time, they were
still roughly in the same area where we had first encountered them
yesterday, in the vicinity of platform A(Genesis). Our plan now is
to start monitoring again for new whales while moving in a westerly
direction.
From: swss@tamug.edu
Subject: daily report mesoscale project June 26
Date: June 27, 2005 2:25:17 AM CDT
Daily Log Mesoscale Team on board Summer Breeze
Position at 27.48 90.37
We kept on monitoring regularly throughout last night and stopped only for
about an hour this morning, when we sat out a rain squall. Once out of that,
we kept moving slowly west in long north-west and south-west legs. Finally,
just before 16:00 local time, we picked up clicks and soon after saw the first
blows. The weather wasn't exactly helpful with constant winds above 15 knots
and frequent white caps, which made detecting blows rather difficult.
Nevertheless, we spotted several whales at the surface. However, the first couple
of times the whales fluked before we could get to them, again due to the heavy seas.
Once in the area where the first whales had fluked, we kept spotting blows and
now were close enough to approach the whales in time to obtain photo-ID shots
(see photo 1). Our estimate is that there were four animals in this dispersed
group. A first glance at the photos shows at least three different individuals.
As of midnight, we are still tracking at least one of the whales from this group,
intending to stay with it through the night. If we manage this, we plan to follow
this group until we have a good estimate of the group size and can be confident
that we have identified all members of the group. We picked up the group in the
vicinity of the platform A(Genesis) (see photo 2), and at the moment, we are
still only 6.5 nautical miles west from that structure.
Photo 1:
One of the whales fluking up before we were in the right position.
Note the notch in the trailing edge of the right side of the fluke. We did get
a proper ID photo of this whale later in the day.
Photo 2:
One of the whales fluking in front of platform A(Genesis).
Subject: Daily report mesoscale project June 25
Date: June 26, 2005 6:32:42 AM CDT
Daily Log Mesoscale Team on board Summer Breeze
Position at 28.05 89. 43
We had a promising start to the day. During early morning hours we
heard sperm whale clicks and were able to follow them for two hours.
Since we were sailing at the time, we were able to listen continuously
using the towed array. We would sail in a north-easterly direction until
the clicks were heard first through the right earphone, indicating that the
whales were behind us. Turning around and sailing in a south-easterly
direction, we would repeat the process. However, after two hours the clicks
became weaker, indicating that we were not keeping up with the speed of the
whales. We consequently decided to continue following the whales under engine
power, moving in an easterly direction. Unfortunately, at the same time several
large ships crossed either our bow or stern, such that it became impossible to
detect sperm whale clicks above the sounds of engines and propellers. Once the
noise was low enough, we had lost the whales. They may have continued moving in
a slightly different direction, while we kept motoring east and were not able
to hear them. It is also possible that the whales stopped clicking while we were
in the vicinity of the ships. Either way, we were not able to find them again
and switched to survey mode, monitoring every 15 minutes. We continued doing
that all day, without any new acoustic sperm whale contact. For most of the
night and morning we had heard seismic airguns, and by midday, we could see
the seismic ship. With the help from a radio operator on the close-by rig,
we were able to make a recording of the sounds produced by the airguns, while
the ship passed approximately 2.25 miles behind our stern. It was a good day
for sailing b we hope tomorrow it will be good for sperm whale sightings too.
Subject: daily report mesoscale project June 24
Date: June 25, 2005 5:21:01 AM CDT
Daily Log Mesoscale Team on board Summer Breeze
Position at 28.33 89 10
We had a rather uneventful day. We started regular monitoring early
this morning, and had picked up some faint clicks just before daylight.
However, the whales went quiet and we were not able to reacquire them
later on. We heard very faint clicks again in the afternoon, but once
more lost them before we could start proper tracking. Sighting conditions
were not ideal for most of the day, which allowed us to sail for good parts
of the day, but which did not help in making visual sightings likely.
Throughout the day, we heard the distant rumbles of airguns. The changes
to the boat-mounted directional hydrophone that we made today appear to
stop the pod from turning on its pole. The real test will come once we
are tracking sperm whales, of course.
Subject: daily report mesoscale project June 23
Date: June 24, 2005 1:35:33 AM CDT
Daily Log Mesoscale Team on board Summer Breeze
Position at 29.49 88 40
We left Gulfport today at 13:00 and are now heading back to the area were
we observed the group of five whales four days ago. We should reach that
area sometime around midnight. Regular acoustic monitoring will start once
we are deep (> 200m) water. The days ashore were used to take care of some
important things. Not the least of these were Jonathan's ears, which received
appropriate medical attention as soon as we arrived in Gulfport on June 20.
He felt much better yesterday when he was heading to the airport to fly back
to Scotland. On the 22nd, Raul arrived so we are a full team of seven again.
Several boat repairs were completed, and we began work on a structure to mount
a directional hydrophone to a frame, which in turn is attached to the boat.
Besides the hydrophone array being towed behind the vessel and that allows us
to listen while underway, we also use a hand-held directional hydrophone for
tracking sperm whales at close rang (see photo). Until now, this directional
hydrophone, which is attached to a long pole, was deployed from the back deck.
This is no problem when the boat is perfectly still and there are no currents.
Clearly, this is only rarely the case, so usually, the person using this hydrophone
has to use some force to keep it from drifting, all the while trying to interpret
the sounds being picked up by the hydrophone. The directional hydrophone mounted
to the fixed frame will eliminate that problem, and should also allow us to use
the hydrophone during moderate boat speeds. First trials this evening were
promising, although the drop-shaped housing for the hydrophone seems to be
turning away from the boat when in the water. We will work on that issue during
the coming days.
We used this directional hydrophone in 2003 on the Gyre. This year's edition
looks similar, and is still referred to as the "salad bowl".
Subject: Daily Report Mesoscale Project 19 June 05
Date: June 20, 2005 8:44:24 AM CDT
Daily Log Mesoscale Team on board Summer Breeze
Position at 29.17 88 24
Today was our first day of what we would describe "regular" sperm whale behavior: surfacing
intervals of around d12 minutes ending with a fluke and a ~45minute dive. However, the day
started again with another group of five individuals logging at the surface and shallow-diving.
It was quite remarkable that we found them at all. We had heard a few sporadic codas at first
light, managed to get a direction on them and motored that way. As we heard nothing more we
stopped the boat to wait and listen and had just about given up when we realized that we were
looking right at a resting group of whales only 200m from the boat, almost invisible in the
strange greasy light of daybreak. After a couple of hours the group started to make feeding
dives and dispersed over a mile or so. One consistent pairing was an individual with a callus
(therefore probably a mature female) and a rather large calf. We had first classed this animal
as a juvenile but then observed behavior typical suckling during most of the day. (Sperm
whale calves may continue to suckle for several years and the distinction between "calf" and
"juvenile" is not as clear as in some other species).
This large calf typically dove with its escort at the end of each surfacing, though it didn't
quite bring its flukes above the surface. Clearly though it wasn't yet as accomplished a diver
as the adults and it was often seen at the surface alone, swimming quite purposefully, as though
keeping track of the diving animals below. On one occasion when we saw the large calf by itself
at the surface it was joined by a group of about eight pygmy killer whales. They were paying a
lot of attention to the calf, which tried to avoid them, rolling on the surface and changing
direction. There was no indication of an attack, but this species is reported to be aggressive
and has been known to attack cetaceans both in captivity and the wild. We witnessed a similar
interaction between this species and a smaller calf in a group at the surface last year. Our
perceptions may have been colored by the species' name or reputation, but it felt as though
they were predators testing the calf, looking for vulnerability.
Of the other members of the group of five we had seen resting in the early morning, two
individuals also consistently surfaced together and the final animal surfaced alone. Through
the day we had often seen another strong blow about a mile and half from our assemblage, but
as it surfaced at much the same time as our whales we never managed to reach it while it was
on the surface. Late in the afternoon though we moved over to start tracking this whale.
It turned out to be a sizeable male, one of the largest we have yet seen in the Gulf but
still not as big as the large breeding males we have seen in other areas. The absence of
putative breeding males in the Northern Gulf remains a mystery, we can only assume that
breeding is confined to other times of the year.
We are now heading in to Gulfport MS, a day ahead of schedule. It's a pity to be doing
this: we still have fuel and water, the weather remains good and we feel that we are just
getting into our stride. However, one of the team, Jonathan, has a bad ear infection,
and there are several important things to sort out on the boat. Both areas will be better
attended to sooner than later.
Subject: Mesocsacle Report 18 June 2005
Date: June 19, 2005 7:54:27 AM CDT
Daily Log Mesoscale Team on board Summer Breeze
Position at 28.56 88 40
Our day started with another quintet of whales, which we picked up around 4:00
and tracked until the morning. We could see that these were not the same group
that encountered yesterday as they did not show any of he same marks on their heads
and backs. However, they had one thing in common with yesterday's animals: they had
no intention of fluking. Instead, they shallow-dived repeatedly or logged at the
surface in a tight group. Unfortunately, this time we were not able to wait until
they began feeding dives and displayed flukes, since a thunderstorm threatened.
Rather than shutting down our operations for the duration of the storm, and hopng to
pick up the group again later, we decided to leave these animals and avoid worst of
the weather. We sailed ahead and between several storm cells until after lunch time,
when we began our regular acoustic monitoring again. By 16:00, we had picked up clicks;
we went into tracking mode and soon spotted the first blows. As it turned out, this was
a dispersed assemblage of around four animals. One of them shallow-dived on first
approach but we got ID photos of the other three, one of which was a tagged individual:
the aerial and base of a satellite tag being clearly visible just below the dorsal fin
on the right hand side. The tag had a white tip and black stalk, a color code which
will allow it to be recognized. We could also identify the whale from fluke photographs
as being MTB 36, which we first photographed last year.
Subject: mesoscale report june 17
Date: June 18, 2005 4:31:54 AM CDT
Daily Log Mesoscale Team on board Summer Breeze
Position at 29.07 87 49
Our day started with an encounter with a pod of approximately 200 melon-headed whales.
Some of them came to bow-ride, but most of the group seemed to be resting and were happy
for us to drift amongst them. Smaller groups were engaged in a variety of behaviors, many
of which involved activities which were clearly visible at the surface, such as spy-hops
and flipper slaps. They were as well very active acoustically, mainly producing whistles.
We made some excellent recordings and the group was audible for many miles during our
regular monitorings after we left the pod. communicate between the people at both ends
of our boat (the hands-free walkie-talkie sets have the disadvantage of being triggered
by the constant wind). By mid morning we could see the first of the big offshore rigs on
the horizon and in a strange way it felt like being home. At around 10:30, we detected
sperm whale clicks and by 11:00 we had visual contact. This turned out to be a dispersed
group of around five animals that we judged to be maturing male. We obtained some fluke
photographs over a couple of dive cycles but the whales then went into a resting mode.
Eventually rafting up in a tight group of five, logging and traveling slowly NE at the
surface. For the next three hours, we slowly followed behind the four whales, waiting
for them to fluke. But fluking seemed furthest from minds. Occasionally one individual
would become more active and we witnessed some spectacular breaches and lobtails.
Finally, as the light was fading. at 20:00, the whales decided to start diving again.
Our patience, following the whales through the long hot afternoon was rewarded and we
got good fluke shoots from most of the group. After following them for almost 10 hours,
we called it a day - just in time for a swim , CTD cast before hunkering down in a
lightning storm, during dinner. We rode out the storm for a while, choosing the
most comfortable and dry heading. Now we are making the most of the wind heading
north west, we've just passed another sperm whale group but will hope to find and
track one later in the night before morning.
This was the first time our new team members worked with several whales at the same
time, and things went well. We will improve some of our Logger forms to allow for a
better flow of entering data during multiple encounters, and figure out the best way
tocommunicate between the people at both ends of our boat (the hands-free walkie-talkie
sets have the disadvantage of being triggered by the constant wind).
Group of melon headed whales bowriding.
White lips and a triangular shaped head are characteristic features of melon headed whales.
Our group of sperm whales were encountered quite close to the rig PETRONIUS.
From: swss@tamug.edu
Subject: Mesoscale daily report June 16
Date: June 17, 2005 10:23:30 AM CDT
Daily Log Mesoscale Team on board Summer Breeze
Position at 22:00 29 13 87 02
We tracked the lone whale mentioned in yesterday's log through a couple of dive
cycles to give us all a chance to get used to photographing, collecting data and
tracking animals again and to make sure we had all the information on the whale
that we needed. This was also our first chance to use some new data collection
routines. Over the last year Douglas Gillespie, who wrote the Logger program
that we use to collect data, has introduced some significant enhancements: allowing
forms to be opened by remote buttons and for many instances of a form to open as
tabs on a single page. Ricardo, one of our more technical team members, has
coupled this to a set of wireless remote switches allowing us to open forms, and
initiate activities such as making recordings, from on deck or anywhere on the boat.
We believe that these two innovations will allow us to collect a better more
integrated dataset, but as with any new system, initial trials will probably
suggest some tweaking and fine tuning.
As we left the whale, under sail, to resume our monitoring survey we were able
to make an extended recording of the animal at steadily increasing ranges. This
is for a team at Herriot Watt University in Edinburgh who are developing an open
source software package, PAMGUARD, to facilitate the detection and tracking of
cetaceans for mitigation during seismic surveys with funding from the IRFC.
Sperm whales are one of their priority species and we will be making recordings
for them like this whenever we are moving away from whales after tracking to
resume monitoring.
Unfortunately, for the rest of the day we suffered the now familiar frustration
of excellent weather but no whales. As we move west in the Northern Gulf,
however, we expect to come into areas of higher abundance and larger groups.
As I write this, 22.00, we have just sailed by a pair of sperm whales.
We typically only track animals heard after 03.00 in the morning. The
wind's picked up allowing us to sail and it's a beautiful night!
Subject Mesoscale Daily Report 16 June 2005
Date June 16, 2005 10:38:06 AM CDT
Position at midnight 28 37 86 50
A frustrating day. No hint of whales, in fact a remarkably quiet ocean,
but beautiful calm weather for working with them. Useless for sailing
though, so had to motor all day. Today is one of the crew, Sam's, birthday
and an impromptu party, complete with a large cake, candles which had to be
blown out below deck, and a variety of largely pointless presents, gave a
lift to the end of the day. Around 04.00 finally picked up a sperm whale,
tracked it 'till daylight and got our first fluke photos of the season before
breakfast. This whale turned out to be a lone medium sized male, which is
typical for this part of the coast and the De Soto Canyon region.
Supplemental: June 16, 2005 10:57:17 AM CTD
Such are the wonders of modern technology that we could recieve the Stag
team's daily report on satcoms this morning and match their attached image
to our Gulf of Mexico catalogue. The whale they photographed on the 15th
matches HR13, first photographed in 2003.
Best,
Jonathan
Subject: Photo-ID daily report June 15
Date: June 15, 2005 5:11:20 AM CDT
Position at 01:00 27 37.5N 085 18.1W.
We reached the 200m isobath at around 10am and streamed the short hydrophone.
Much of the morning was spent in not entirety successful attempts to solve
electrical noise problems that were not apparent during our brief trails off
St Petersburg. Although we are using the same boat as last year some changes
have been made and there are signs that maintenance has not been al that it
might have been so a system that worked perfectly last year seems to have been
hexed by earthing problems. Such are the trials and tribulations of trying to
run sensitive electronic equipment on a boat taken out of a charter fleet and
hurriedly adapted. We have been making one-minute listening stations every 15
minutes through the day but haven't heard any whales. This is not entriely
unexpected, this first section along the Floridian coast is an area where in
the past we have only encountered occasional small clusters of medium sized
males. The absence of any sperm whales at least provided space to train our
new crew members in using Logger and in what to expect once we encounter
sperm whales. The day was not without any marine mammal sightings: pantropical
spotted dolphins paid us a couple of visits during the morning. We are now
zig-zagging through our southermost search area, staying in water between
500 and 2000 meters.
Subject: Summer Breeze June 13
Date: June 14, 2005 12:44:56 AM CDT
Hello all,
We are finally on our way. We completed the last chores on the boat and purchased
fresh food during morning and early afternoon and cast off the St. Petersburg marina
at 16:00 under a blue sky and with a fresh (summer) breeze. Since leaving Tampa Bay,
we have been sailing at around 6 knots in a south-westerly direction, as straight as
we can towards deep water, and hopefully towards the first sperm whales. Everybody on
board is in good spirits, we enjoyed our first sunset and dinner offshore, and are
beginning to settle into our shipboard schedule.
The Summer Breeze team
Subject: MPS ShoreLog
Date: June 12, 2005 10:59:51 PM CDT
With the team complete and the weather much improved, we are set to
start our cruise. Today, we were stocking up on food and last minute
pieces of equipment today, while the Caribbean parade was passing the
yacht club. We finished work on the directional hydrophones, fueled up
the boat and had a test trial of the hydrophone arrays. Both worked
perfectly without any new or unknown noises. Our plan is to finish
stocking up tomorrow morning, then dropping of the rental and to be on
our way west towards the first sperm whale contact.
The swss team
Subject: MPS ShoreLog
Date: June 11, 2005 11:03:06 AM CDT
We had planned to be heading out today, but instead, we're still on the dock
in St Petersburg. Over the last few days we have definitely been "coming out
the other end" as far as the task of adapting the vessel is concerned. Most
jobs are tending to reduce the chaos now, putting the boat back into something
that looks like it might actually function, and we have even bought and stored
away mountains of cans and dried foods for the season. The reason for the delay:
Arlene, the first hurricane of the season. She passed offshore here overnight
heading for Alabama, but we've had torrential rain and strong winds for the last
few days. Today its still windy but the sky is rapidly clearing. Bearing in
mind that for many of us our last time in St Petersburg was when we were
desperately clearing out ahead of Charlie there is a strong sense of deja vu.
One good bit of news, our last crew member, Thomas, finally got his visa and
arrived overnight on a flight delayed by over 6 hours by the storm.
So, fingers crossed, we're all set to leave as soon as its safe to do so.
Subject: RE: Daily Reports and Photos
Date: June 7, 2005 6:55:12 AM CDT
Taking a break from the anarchy of adapting and preparing the sailboat we are going to
use as our research platform "Summer Breeze", the same 46-ft motor-sailor we used last
year to write this brief note. In many ways this is the hardest stage of the project.
There's a huge amount to do to adapt a normal charter yacht to our needs: creating an
acoustic monitoring station and two towed hydrophones, making a new clean power supply
so that we can keep three computers running at sea at all times, putting in a satcomms
system, converting two of the boat's three heads into storage for food etc, devising
safe stowage for all the gear we will be using through the season, securing all those
jerry cans on deck... the list just goes on. To be honest the boat looks like a tornado
hit it: absolute chaos, with six different people all working around each other on their
own particular jobs. The climate doesn't help either, those of us from more northerly
climes are struggling to adapt to a hot and humid Florida. We've got a great team though,
and the excitement of starting a new project to carry us through. Bernd Wursig was down
for a few days at the beginning helping us get started. He's back in Galveston now and
we are waiting for our last team member, Thomas, still embroiled in the protracted
business of getting a visa issued in London.
