Howdy from GYRE!
After surveying southwest through the night, acoustics heard distant
sperm whales about 05:00 local, but lost them during turning maneuvers.
After a search of the area by acoustics, visuals, and the two RHIBs, the
whales were reacquired. Today we were with approximately 10 sperm whales. As
we studied with these whales, we found many were too small or too slim to
tag with S-tags. This has been the condition for
many of the groups we have
worked with on this cruise. In today's group, there were at least one mother
with calf and only 2-3 animals large enough to S-tag. Thus, although we were
with these animals until nearly 20:00 local time, only one location-only
S-tag was deployed. A biopsy was obtained from this whale. A B-probe was
deployed mid-day and stayed on the animal for over 1.5 hours, during which
time it apparently made a deep dive. No quick look has yet been made of the
data. A biopsy was taken of this whale. Another biopsy was obtained from a
third whale, and a couple of photo-ids were taken. An additional high point
was the sighting of 20-30 Clymene dolphins by the visual team; RHIB 2 was in
the vicinity of these animals.
Our position at 22:00 local time is 27 57.05'N 95 21.00'W.
