Minke Madness
On Thursday 19th new intern James, volunteers Jack and Steve set out on Stena Europe in near perfect conditions. Sightings were surprisingly slow with no porpoise until we were well beyond Strumble but then we started spotting them at a pretty steady rate. About half way over we found the grey seal bottling above the wreck that he regards as his personal larder but still nothing special to be seen.
Above the horizon there was something flying that set the pulse racing, not a bird but a whirlybird. The Irish Coastguard Helicopter was out on exercise and decided to practice with Stenna Europe. He approached from the East and synchronized speed so that he was flying over the helipad on our stern being buffeted by the variable wind eddies coming around our funnel because we were doing over 20 knots. The helicopter headed off towards Ireland and the fun started.
A sighting………no not a porpoise, a Minke Whale. This was quickly followed by another giving superb views. We then had a small pod of common dolphin, then another Minke and another. We were approaching Rosslare and Steve spotted yet another about a mile away and while scanning waiting for it to reappear James noticed the resident bottlenose dolphin about a quarter of a mile ahead. What a fantastic crossing…. 6 minke 1 bottlenose a pod of commons and porps.
As the ferry retraces the route we often get the same minke on our return if it is hanging about feeding in the same general area. Not today however. We had a quiet half hour but as we cleared the Tusker Rock area we had a very distant sighting. Common dolphins a couple of miles off our port quarter splashing well but not interested in coming up to the ferry. Then directly ahead but distant large fins were seen. It took a very grainy photo to convince James that they were indeed rissos. Then as luck would have it we had an adult and calf Risso's on the surface only about 200 metres ahead. No problem with ID this time. We were now well over half way so in welsh waters when we had yet another minke although the first on our return crossing.
More commons and more porps completed a very productive survey. Massive thanks to the Captain and crew on Stena Europe and the staff shoreside. Unfortunately crossed lines between Steve and James delayed the publication of this blog.
