Ship on the Ocean - Groundhogs
I’m
like a ship on the Ocean
That’s
rolling from side to side.
But
I’m not drunk I’m just dissatisfied
It’s
not my body but my mind I can’t control
I’ve
got everything that I need but still I want more.
Thursday 18 April 2013 – Noon Position Lat
33° 54’ 50” North Long 064° 47’ 00” West
It’s a long 5 days passage from
Hamilton, Bermuda to our next destination and with most birds now likely on the
breeding grounds, plus Cetaceans
still making their way back from the Antarctic Feeding Grounds there is not a
lot of expectation. Fortunately we have remained a few days behind on ‘posts’
which should adequately fill the void, but for this period at sea it was thought
best to make at least 2 posts and publish under the appropriate dates. If Sod’s Law
does work in the opposite direction we should be knee deep in Whales and
Shearwaters by this time tomorrow.
This little cubby-hole, amidships
on the starboard side, has served me well as a ‘bird hide’ which, steering 090°
is out of the glare of the sun, wind
and any rain.
The Images You Thought You'd Never See!
ME Sea-Watching
There you are see, didn’t even
have to wait that long as during the first 6 hours vigil at least c10 Whales of
one description or another broke surface with only two positively identified.
Scanning the surface what was at first thought to be a huge baulk of timber
suddenly manifested itself as a Humpback of massive proportions, just wallowing
there, followed a couple of hours later by something even bigger. The extremely
long, black, arched back followed by a dorsal fin of small proportions, set
well back on the animal, could only point to Finwhale Perhaps needless to report, by the time the camera
was brought to focus both had simply disappeared.
Sometime earlier, 07:00 to be
precise, a pod of at least c6 medium size Dolphin/Porpoise had passed by hurriedly,
followed an hour later by these 3? ‘Unidentified Beauties’. During the remainder of the
first ‘watch’ c9 Shearwaters of 2 distinct sizes were seen along with c5
Wilson’s Petrels, satisfying myself that at least Audubon’s has now been
positively identified.
Marker Buoy
something to keep the interest going.
A few distant seabirds make of them what you will,
good practice for some.
My attempts
CORY'S SHEARWATER
LONG-TAILED SKUA
Just to give some idea of how far away some of these critters are.
Above 2 images.
MANX SHEARWATER
U.F.O.
Unidentified Floating Object
something to keep the interest going.
good practice for some.
My attempts
Above 2 images.
U.F.O.
WILSON'S PETREL
Friday 19th April 20132013 –
Noon Position Lat 35° 38’ 40” North Long 053° 02’ 40” West
Coming Back To Life - Pink Floyd
I
took a Heavenly ride through our silence
I
knew the waiting had begun
Heading
straight into the shinning sun
The day started very well with a ‘point
blank’ 20 seconds of BLACK-CAPPED PETREL before it disappeared across the bow.
There followed a longish wait for the next sighting as the first of c3 Sooty
Shearwaters passed also at a distance. Unfortunately no Whales but a few more
‘white-rumped/Storm and possible ‘Larger’ Gadfly-Petrels. At noon we were 1,000
Nautical Miles from land when a number of large Shearwaters started to appear
in the south. None came anywhere near the ship but a few images were secured in
the hope of being an aid to identification. Returning to my cabin, still fully
booted and spurred, I glanced through the scuttle to find ‘this’
CORY’S SHEARWATER
only a matter of
yards away, being what all the others had looked like as well?
