Cruise JC030
Sunday 12th January 2009
Day 17 (I think) at Sea:
Having a whale of a time
JDAY 012
Lunch: well it's a la carte - I had a Hawaiian pizza
Dinner: Oh come on - it's Sunday which means Steak!!
Weather: Force 4/5
Distance Travelled Today: 136 Miles
Total Distance Travelled: 2677 Miles
Activity: CTDing
Sea Temperature:0.3•C
Air Temperature:-2•C
Above: Humpback!! Ahhh, it reminds me of those days sipping Screech onboard the Cetacean Quest - Cold, Grey but full of excitement......
Above: Back by popular request......... Our current position
Another day - another CTD!! Yesterday was once again another slow day with the CTD deployed around lunchtime and again late in the evening. The clocks changed during the night so we are now on GMT. Making phoning home a bit easier. So yesterday - once gain it was a lot of IT issues to look at and systems to be inspected. Well it beats sitting in an office and it's only a short walk to work.
After the glorious sunshine of the last few days the weather has once again turned cold and grey - it had to happen sooner or later! The weather forecast doesn't look good and it looks like it may be a bit chilly in the next few days with quite a bit of snow.
During the day there were several whale sightings - usually too far for any form of identification - most likely humpbacks. However, the white plumes are easily identifiable against the dark grey sky. Loic said one whale came within a few hundred meters of the ship - I didn't see it though!
In the evening I saw a few more whales and managed to grab a few shots of the flukes. Hopefully we will see them a lot closer before the cruise is complete - then there is always the whale conservation project in Chile. I've got a feeling I'll get some good shots before I get back to the UK! Keep an eye on the website ;-)
Later in the evening I went back out on deck for a few minutes and snapped some images of birds going for our food scraps. However, it was bitter and I was soon back inside!
My evening was spent looking at our GPS units and inspecting there setup....... Exciting!!
Roisin suggested doing a "time lapse video" of the CTD sampling. I setup the spare camera on a tripod in the CTD lab and set it to take pictures every 5 seconds during the nighttime recovery of the CTD. These images were then added to a movie. The video really should have some Benny Hill music to it. It’s really good - it shows everyone rushing around to get the sampling done. We’ve managed to compress nearly three hours work into just over 2 minutes! Each time you view the video you will notice something different! The time lapse is good because I can get on with my work whilst the camera still takes pictures.
If you would like to see the movie click the link below:
IF YOU ARE ON THE SHIP PLEASE ACCESS THIS VIDEO ON THE SHARED DRIVE NOT THE INTERNET!!!!
CLICK HERE - TIME LAPSE VIDEO OF CTD SAMPLING - 10MB - MIGHT TAKE SOME TIME - Either click save as and save or open!!
Above: To the shock of everyone we saw an iceberg......
Above: Hmmmm, I wonder what that could be!!
Above: Humpback flukes. Notice the white on the flukes
Above: The markings on a humpbacks flukes are unique and can be used to identify the whale...... This is Dewi
Above: going deep!
Above: Southern Giant Petrel (??)
Above: Southern Giant Petrel (??)
Above: Antarctic Petrel
Above: Fairy Prion
Above: Antarctic Petrel
Above: Antarctic Petrel
Above: Antarctic Petrel
Above: Antarctic Petrel
Above: Antarctic Petrel
Above: Sooty Albatross
Above: Antarctic Petrel gets a fish
Above: Antarctic Petrel eatting a fish
Above: Antarctic Petrel attempting a water lift-off
Above: Antarctic Petrel taking-off
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