First Trip

The journey from Dublin to Boa Vista went relatively smoothly, apart from the serious questioning that I got in Manchester en-route (a policeman was considering taking the crossbow off me for not having an import permit for it). I started rabitting on about whales and the research, he noticed we shared the same birthday too and the atmosphere lightened a little. He left me go and with just 45 mins to find the other terminal and check in 3 bags, I sprinted across the airport and made it by the skin of my teeth.

We didn't spot any whales on our approach to Sal Rei as the plain did a broad sweep over our study site. 

We had our first trip to sea this morning at 0830 and spotted no less than 5 humpbacks within 4 or 5km from Sal Rei. They were in two groups about 4km apart. One group comprised a mother, calf and her rather excited escort who treated us to many breaches and some pec-slapping. No biopsies yet as we were hitching a ride on the whale-watching boat. This afternoon we will launch the rib and might be able to squeeze another trip in if there are enough daylight hours left. None of the whales that we spotted today have  been biopsied by us before, so we are keen to sample them before they head back north.

We also spotted an osprey plunge-diving, brrown-necked raven, red-billed tropic bird, a Portuguese-man-o-war, a green turtle and some flying fish. The sea was rough as the north-easterly trade winds are blowing at about 22knots. Fingers crossed for some slack winds soon.