Voyage of the Acolyte - Steve Hackett Part II

Saturday 20^th April 2013 – Noon Position Lat 36° 57’ 00” North Long 046° 28’ 00” West

The weather continues ‘fair’ as we entered the 3^rd day of passage but with the temperature now sub-70°F, quite a culture shock after 5 months much higher than that! Grabbing that essential first coffee of the day and wandering aft there were the last vestiges of a large Whale heading west, which was the only Cetacean of the day. The first Cory’s showed just moments later and within 10 minutes the number had risen to c13, good reason then for a ‘dedicated day count’! Reaching the favoured viewing position, Stbd/midships, a Wilson’s Petrel closed the ship to a distance where the feet could be clearly seen projecting beyond the tail, likely the same as all other ‘small’ Petrels thus far? The count continued but by the time Cory’s had reached Heinz’s Beanz’s (57 in sea-going Tombola terminology) and Wilson’s c3 the whole thing ‘dried up’ with not a bird of any description for well over an hour.

What looked like a GREAT SKUA (above) on jizz alone started the ball rolling again and by the time the Lunch Gong was heard totals stood at Cory’s – 113, Wilson’s – 9, Tern Sp 1, Phalarope Sp (thought Grey) 2 plus the Bonxie. Necessities of Nature are all saved for this 10 minutes intermission to maximize time ‘in the field’ so I was soon back in the watchtower with my mug full of Haddock Goujons lightly seasoned with Tartare Sauce.

A trickle of birds continued until mid-afternoon when a mini-feeding frenzy (above) was noted and Cory’s numbers leapt from 119 to 141, with a medium size Turtle being seen in the same area. At ‘stumps’, the day totals remained the same except for Cory’s reaching 189 and Wilson’s 17 not a bad ‘day out’!   

  CORY'S SHEARWATER

Sunday 21^st April 2013 – Noon Position Lat 37° 47’ 40” North Long 0540° 07’ 83” West

The weather had deteriorated overnight, as predicted, with the wind remaining in the east but now showing Force 7 on the Beaufort Scale, swell reaching 7 meters plus under a fully covered and threatening sky. To my mind we were sitting quite comfortably in the water, but many onboard were now suffering. However, I think not as much as those on the first sighting of the morning, the ungainly looking

Now you see her,

 now you don't!

Spanish Fishing Vessel

‘SIEMPRE PERLA’

 There was certainly a storm brewing.

 Yet another 'interesting' photo of a 'Pile of Dunnage'

 This looked like some sort of Transponder?

 This bird looked decidedly 'black-capped'

 couldn't see the rump so no detail of white rump

 could it have been a Great Shearwater????

 Trans-Atlantic Flight

Voyage of the Acolyte - Steve Hackett Part I

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

 WILSON'S PETREL

Friday 19^th 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?