Within our international team we’ve enjoyed, but also struggled a bit with the intense heat between Turkey and Cyprus. On the other hand it makes the swim stops more rewarding than ever and the night watches give us the chance to cool down and be amazed by the stunning starry skies. All the discomfort is worth it; on the hydrophones all kinds of underwater noise from seismic and explosions to sperm whales, dolphins and even shrimps have been recorded. Twice a day we deploy the CTD ( to measure salinity and temperature at different depths) and make calibrated recordings of background noise throughout the Eastern Mediterranean survey area.
After a couple of days without any sightings (except for rubbish) and without even birds sighted, I was afraid that this could be an overfished sea without much life in it. But after two very exciting encounters with Risso’s dolphins and striped dolphins, together with a lot of sperm whale clicks on the hydrophone, life in this sea was evident. The Risso’s dolphins behaved amazingly around the boat and stayed with us for a long time. It was a big group of 15-20 individuals and during their bowriding activities we were able to make a lot of photo-ID pictures and an underwater movie. It was almost the same story with the striped dolphins who appeared in a big group, one day after the Risso’s: they surfed the swell approaching the boat and then jumped out of the water while on our bow. The clear turquoise Mediterranean waters allowed the animals underwater behaviours to be easily seen and captured on video.
Tessa van Heumen