At Sea, between St. Helena and Ascension Island
As we sail north through warm (27ºC, 80ºF) water, we are enjoying the gentle tropical breezes and a gentle following swell. As the day developed we first encountered a very unusual sighting, thanks to the eagle eyes of our bird expert, non pareil, Richard White, who spotted a dark tail fin passing the ship. We quickly turned the ship around and soon found a whale shark swimming close to the surface. As the shark swam slowly along we lowered a Zodiac and Undersea Specialist Dennis Cornejo was able to capture some wonderful images with the Splash Cam. In these images we can see remoras attached to the 10m long shark as it lazily rolls over and continues on its way straining plankton out of the surface water with its gill rakers.
Continuing on, in the afternoon Richard again spotted some surface activity far in the distance and we aging turned the ship slightly to port to take a closer look. We were again rewarded, first by the appearance of a pod of very rare tropical Rough-toothed Dolphins who came over to the ship to bow ride. This was a first time ever sighting for many of us on board, even for those who had spent a lifetime in search of marine mammals. These animals are rarely seen, but are every distinctive when you do see them, especially with their irregular white markings around the mouth and their very sloping rostrum, or forehead. Together with the dolphins we encountered a large pod of pilot whales, perhaps 50, who were slowly moving along the surface and periodically diving in search of their dinner, probably squid at intermediate depths in this tropical ocean. We watched the pilot whales until sunset and, as a perfect finale, the sun produced a remarkably bright green flash which made believers out of even the most entrenched skeptics.
It was, altogether, an incredible day in the tropical Atlantic!
As we sail north through warm (27ºC, 80ºF) water, we are enjoying the gentle tropical breezes and a gentle following swell. As the day developed we first encountered a very unusual sighting, thanks to the eagle eyes of our bird expert, non pareil, Richard White, who spotted a dark tail fin passing the ship. We quickly turned the ship around and soon found a whale shark swimming close to the surface. As the shark swam slowly along we lowered a Zodiac and Undersea Specialist Dennis Cornejo was able to capture some wonderful images with the Splash Cam. In these images we can see remoras attached to the 10m long shark as it lazily rolls over and continues on its way straining plankton out of the surface water with its gill rakers.
Continuing on, in the afternoon Richard again spotted some surface activity far in the distance and we aging turned the ship slightly to port to take a closer look. We were again rewarded, first by the appearance of a pod of very rare tropical Rough-toothed Dolphins who came over to the ship to bow ride. This was a first time ever sighting for many of us on board, even for those who had spent a lifetime in search of marine mammals. These animals are rarely seen, but are every distinctive when you do see them, especially with their irregular white markings around the mouth and their very sloping rostrum, or forehead. Together with the dolphins we encountered a large pod of pilot whales, perhaps 50, who were slowly moving along the surface and periodically diving in search of their dinner, probably squid at intermediate depths in this tropical ocean. We watched the pilot whales until sunset and, as a perfect finale, the sun produced a remarkably bright green flash which made believers out of even the most entrenched skeptics.
It was, altogether, an incredible day in the tropical Atlantic!
