The Elements of Nature

For the past few days, the research team has been holed up in the safety of the apartment avoiding the high seas at just about any cost. Extreme wind and sea conditions had driven even the most experienced cargo-ship driving mariners into the safety of the bay to avoid ugly situations out on the big blue, and a fair wind/weather warning had put a damper on even local travel.

Amanda and myself, warm and dry, had been happily plugging away and catching up on weeks of data input, however found our data party coming to a close after only two days off the water. The winds had finally decided to abate and leave the small towns along the coastline of New South Wales alone, so with equipment packed the team decided to hit the high seas bright and early this morning to catch up on lost time.

Starting with slightly imperfect conditions and working our way towards near perfection, we hopped from pod to pod collecting upwards to 15 fluke IDs in one day. The whales were plentiful, the feeding was abundant, and (we have to say) the pictures were pretty darn good.

With only a little over a week left in the 2010 season, there are few opportunities left for us to share amazing imagery and footage like this with you. So while there’s always a lot to say about our research and our day to day, we’ll let the pictures do the talking for today.

Aloha,
Annie

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