10th March – Calming wild waters
After a relatively harrowing first day in the Drake’s Passage, we spent yet another day at sea—luckily for us it was significantly calmer than the ten meter tall waves from yesterday. While still down a few members, the group was able to start our first official day of marine mammal and seabird surveys.
Throughout the day we were treated to a veritable acrobatic display of seabirds soaring along on the high winds. For amateur birders as ourselves, their agile dips and swift, whipping turns challenged our identification skills and forced us to learn quickly on the job.
For marine mammals, we started off gently with only a distant whale blow from an unknown species, but ended the day with a thrilling display from a playful pod of hourglass dolphins. They were zipping in and out of the bow waves, effortlessly navigating the foamy waters and leaping out as if to show off their dramatic black and white namesake patterns. It was a heart-racing first encounter with our new blubbery buddies, where there were more girly squeals of delight than us serious scientists would probably care to admit. It’s moments like that when we reconnect with our passion for animals and biology in a way that just cannot be elicited in a lecture theatre. We’re lucky to experience such a pristine ecosystem that supports such a unique and diverse assemblage of animals.
Kelsea (SH student)