23 March – Travelling across the Drake Passage
Written by Tiffany
Our first night onboard MV Plancius went smoothly, apart from the ship rocking us back to sleep! The ship’s wakeup call went off at 7.45am and the second call at 8am was for breakfast (by then, everyone was ready to feast again – we’ve been eating so much on this trip, at least I have!). The breakfast spread was luxurious, from multivitamin juice to meats and hash browns. After the hearty breakfast, we kitted up and got ready for our first marine mammal and seabird survey!
We were each assigned different stations during the surveys, which enabled us to develop skills in data recording and identifying both marine mammals and seabirds. Both surveys comprised of 1 data logger and 2 observers. The marine mammal observers were positioned at each bridge wing while the data logger was stationed inside the bridge.
The seabird observers conducted their surveys on either side of the bridge wing where there was the least glare. With Will’s guidance and enthusiasm, we spotted different species including albatrosses, petrels, prions and even some rockhopper penguins!
We had just the perfect weather for spotting wildlife. All of us were on the bridge for almost the whole day, anticipating blows of a whale and also enjoying the sunshine! By the end of the day, we spotted bottlenose whales, hourglass dolphins and fin whales! Overall, we were all very pleased with our first day of fieldwork!
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