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WHALE AND DOLPHIN RECORDS ABOARD YACHT LISTA LIGHT 2008-2009

Sighting form for the Whale and Dolphins Conservation Society

Introduction

Below are the results of our sightings of cetaceans from October 2008, as well as records of whales during the Bay of Biscay crossing in August. Although we saw dolphins and minke whale when sailing in the Inner Hebridees in July, we did not systematically record them as below.

Method

There was always at least one person up on deck at watch as we sailed, often up to five people. We, therefore, had a good number of eyes scanning the sea. Any dolphin or whale activity was recorded in our nature book at the helm during the day or night. We are not skilled observers, but were able to i.d. the dolphins fairly easily. The whales, however, were generally much more difficult to identify as they usually did not swim as close as the dolphins to the boat and only showed a fin or part of their body. We used binoculars and took photos when there was time to aid identification. Our main i.d. book was, *. We noted: the time, species, number, behaviour, location, ship’s speed, sea state, course of the animal and ship and added any particular notes, as recommended by the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society.

Results and Discussion

We saw potentially four species of whale: fin whale, pilot, humpback and minke whale. The humpback was questionable as it was only seen fleetingly by one member of the crew. We saw the minke whale continuously over four days as it swam around our boat. The features we thought identified it were the white under belly and flipper we kept seeing. It did not look particularly big (unlike a humpback). It appeared interested in our boat, on one day becoming almost our ‘loyal companion’ circling us!

From photos and good observations we are very sure that pilot whales and fin whales were correctly identified. We saw three species of dolphins: risso, common and Atlantic spotted dolphin. As noted above they were much easier than the whales to i.d. as they ‘presented’ themselves to the boat, porpoising at the bowsprit. The only problem was at night, when all we could hear were their blow holes and observe their phosphorescent wake.

Dolphin hot spots were along the Pembrokeshire coastline and Lundy sea area, England, Scotland and the western Irish coastline. Crossing the Bay of Biscay was great for dolphins and whales and we generally had dolphins by our side along the Spanish and Portuguese coastline.

For more information on cetaceans visit the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, http://www.wdcs.org

YEAR:	2008-2009		VESSEL: Lista Light				AREA: Bay of Biscay			OBSERVERS:	All crew: KL, DL, CL, DA, AL, BL,HG, NT.
Date	Time	Species	Lat/Long	Distance (m) Bins/Eyes	Bearing	Number (specify any juv./calf)	Ship's course	Ship's speed (knots)	Animals heading	Behaviour	Sea state	Depth (m)	Notes
28.8.	1500	Fin Whale	009/ 49' 8	40	180	2	S	4	N	Swimming by our sides.	Medium- Light		Accompanied us for 5 mins. Appeared to swim to boat to inspect us.
29.8.	1200	Fin Whale	44'24.3/ 009'38.4	200	173	2		5	N				Saw two whales at distance. Blows akin to fin whales saw day before.
10.10.	1014	Common Dolphin	42'09.48/ 008'54.28	50-10		40	SW		W				Among fishing boats, leaving Vigo- near Islas de Cies.
10.10.	1014	Risso Dolphin	42'09.48/ 008'54.28	5		5	SW		W				Among fishing boats, leaving Vigo- near Islas de Cies.
10.10.	1100	Common Dolphins	42'09.4/ 008'54.	200-1			SW		W				By fishing boats and then swam to Lista Light.
10.10.	1555	Common Dolphins	42'58.222/ 009' 05.44	1		4				Swimming at bowsprit
11.10.	115	Common Dolphins	41'21.83/ 008'52.818	40087		30				Swimming at bowsprit			Phosphorescence lighting their way. With us for much of night.
16.10.	1600	Common Dolphin	41'18 / 008'49			12		3.8
16.10.	1730	Common Dolphin	41'05.69 / 008'56.28		259	9	W	4.4	S	Jumping out of water. Came to join us.	Light.	67	Playing, mirroring one another, tummy to tummy.
17.10.	1300	Fin Whale	40'42.49/ 009'28.49	100	210	1	SW	0.6	S		Light, rolling swell.	1500	Rising out of water
18.10.	1513	Common Dolphin	39'43.32/ 009'50.29	1-100	182	10	S	5	N	Jumping waves fast.	Nil		Came to bow and then retreated quickly to N.
18.10.	1757	Common Dolphin	39'29.63/ 009.46'86	1	171	8	S	5		Bow riding	2
18.10.	2250	Common Dolphin	39'40.3/ 009'4.6	1-100	177	6	S	3	S	Stern	Medium		Phosphorescent wake.
19.10.	1019	Common Dolphin	38'42.3/ 009'30.14	1-100	144	5	SE	4.5
24.10.	1312	Common Dolphin	38'25.9 / 009'00.	20	100	8	SE		N	Broaching waves.	Light.	80	2 miles from L/Lat, did not swim with boat
28.11	1300	Common Dolphin	29'42.7/ 013'10.4			4
8.12.	1418	Pilot Whale sp.	13'39. 18 / 28'52. 15	40	168	2	S	0	From E to N	Broad sweep around boat	Nil.	950
8.12.	1730	Pilot whale sp.	28'55.1 / 3'41.1	1-100+	270	1	W	0	E			12	Whale at bow. Dived deep, leaving large oily circle. We then saw whale at 100m plus in huge arc heading out to sea away from us.
9.12.	1621	Common Dolphin	13'44.2/ 28'30.5	2	160	1	SW	4	SW	Swam to boat, popoising.	M
21.12.	1841	Common Dolphin	27.49'64/ 016'22.78	1	240	5	SW	4		Porpoising, huge leaps out of sea.	M		Feeding frenzy, leaping out of water around boat.
22.12.	240	Common Dolphin	22'30.1/ 019'41.9	1	40	2	SW	6.5	SW	Blowing sounds.	L		Phosphorescence shot from their wake.
GMT plus 1 hour
25.12.	2331	Common Dolphins?	22'32.48/ 019'37.7	5		10?	SW	1	N		Nil		Dolphins heard blowing at night and swimming by boat. Heading off to the north.
26.12.	1636	Humpback Whale?	22'20.19/ 019'55.47	40	40	1 adult, 1 calf	SW	1.4	NE/E	Swam passed boat, fin exposed.	Nil		Flat calm. Whales had white, lumpy head, striations..
26.12.	1948	Common Dolphin	22'17.0/ 19'57.6	1	300	3	SW	1.5	NE/E	Swimming at bowsprit	L		Phosphorescence shot from their wake.
27.12.	448	Common Dolphin?	22'07.36/ 020'01.5	1	All around boat	5	S	1.5	S		L		Exhaling air in the darkness. Phosphorescence.
27.12.	2224	Common Dolphin?	22'07.36/ 020'01.5	1	All around boat	5	SW	0.2	W		Nil		Circling ship and then off to west, keep returning.
29.12.	425	Common Dolphin?	21'28.12/ 021'04.17	1	All around boat	5	SW	2.6	?		L		Dolphins have come at night since Christmas Day, blowing out and circling.
29.12.	630	Common Dolphin?	21'24.9/ 021'10.1	0.2	Around ship from N	6	SW	3.4	SW		L		Swimming around boat, porpoising.
30.12.	836	Common Dolphin	20'46.5/22'19.5	1	S/SE	2	SW	3.7	N		L		Bow riding, porpoising, fin, white belly, racing to the side.
30.12.	1402	Pilot Whale sp.	20'40.14/ 022'28.71	30		8	130	0.4	SW		L		Close views of fins. Travelling together in close knit pod.
2009
1.01.	750	Atlantic spotted dolphin	19'51.92/ 025'07.53	1	W	15	W	6.3	W		L-M		Come from N to bow riding and surfing waves. Speckled heads and bellies.
2.01.	1336	Atlantic spotted dolphin	19'45.66/ 028'07.61	1	W	20 (including young)	W	6	W		L-M		Came from south, porpoising clear out of water. Jubilant. One with distinctive tattered fin. White bellies, speckled tops, lightning stripes! Very playful and fast.
2.01.	1736	Atlantic spotted dolphin	19'44.40/ 028'32.21	1	W	8	W	6.1	Came from south, to N.		L-M		Porpoising over waves, flying above water. Very ebullient.
9.01.	1354	Minke whale?	18'00.93/ 043'38.77	10	W	1	W	4.5	W		M		Huge whale by side of boat. Heard blow. White belly.
10.01	1530	Minke whale?	18'00.93/ 043'38.77	10 to 30		1 or 2	W	6	W, alongside us.		M		Whale surfed just under wave at our stern. Displaying white under belly. White pectorial fin. Circled around boat. Fin and back above water. Circled around boat and surfed wave again. Blows near wave. Continued similar behaviour over next couple of days, swimming very close to boat.
11.01	11.15-12	Minke whale?	18'08.5/ 046'57.4	5	W passed us	1 or 2	W	4.4					Same whale? Same behaviour. Seen four times during day.
GMT plus 3 hours
14.01	All day	Minke whale?	18'35.13/ 053'37.0	5	All around boat	1 or 2	W	4	W, alongside us.				Whale surfacing and swimming around boat, seen at intervals all day, until dark. Similar behaviour to above.
16.01	1220	Common Dolphin?	017'31.09/ 056'13.34	1		3 or 4	W	3					Snuffling at bow in darkness
17.01	1623	Common Dolphin	17'42.10/ 59'12.6	1	All around boat	5	W	3			M		Porpoising, swimming at bowsprit. They appeared to be interested in bright orange jacket of person at bow of boat.