Dolphin Diary
Ponta do Ouro - Mozambique
 |
| SWWD 2012 PDO, Mozambique. What a view! |
Aftern an agonizingly quite week we finally managed to get to sea today. By the time we had pushed in by 8am with a full boat of dolphin seekers, the north easterly wind was already picking up. If I had my way our launches would be welcoming in the sunrise while on the water, however this is wayyyyyyy to early for most people who prefer to sleep in on their holiday. I always like to say the early bird catches the worm, but alas our creator comforts take president.
Needless to say the early bird did not catch the worm today. Our trip up the coastline found none of our finned friends inshore so we had to settle for a pleasant shallow reef snorkel up in area f.
Today is Synchronized whale watching day! An annual event that finds pods of people along the african coastline counting humpback whales. The initiative was started by Matt from Samaki who is based up in Tanzania and 2012 is the fourth year running. The event is used to get an idea as to how many whales are seen on a particular day. I have uploaded last years report here for those of you that would like to find out more.
Due to the nature of our work in Ponta, we spend the first part of the morning at sea and when back on land spend the rest of the day peering through binoculars looking for blows, beaches, tail slaps, pec waves and anything else that signals there are whale's around.
Today was no different, after our inshore run along the coast going north, we then headed offshore for the southern run back home. During this time we spotted only two humpbacks traveling north. We picked up some sounds with the hydra-phone, however they whales sounded far away.
This year our observation platform rocks. The elevation is high which results in us being able to spot those offshore - horizon whales. Generally in Ponta do Ouro we find that our whales tend to migrate north very offshore, and while making their way back down the coast tend to come more inshore, which makes for easier viewing.
It's now 13;45 and so far there have been 10 sightings.
The north easterly is up and whitecaps are a plenty.
For the Love of Dolfriends!
Angie
Comments