Highlights from the latest cruise: CSR 12 (August 1st – 7th)

This week started with four sightings of striped dolphins and a nice evening spent in the bay of the charming French town of Villefranche. After dropping anchor, some people explored the land while others preferred to take a playful dip in the sea. The following day, we sailed further West, and reached the Pelagic area south of the Lérins Islands. After some hours with no sightings, the wind speed increased, and we decided to turn the boat and go for a swim closer to the coast and sheltered from the wind.

Our hopes were lost. The wind was strong and the visibility low. Suddenly someone spotted some fins. Those fins were way too big and black to belong to dolphins… It was a group of 40 pilot whales!!!!! These curious creatures came to check out our boat, spending nearly two hours with us. We collected all the data, identified all individuals, and managed to take a stunning underwater video. This was the first sighting of this highly social species this year. In addition to this, and more striped dolphins, we also managed to see several sunfishes and some turtles bothered by annoying common terns standing on their shell.

It was a very pleasant week on board Pelagos. We will miss all the wonderful people who took part in the cruise.

Also, best wishes to 11 years old Emma. We hope your your dream of becoming a marine biologist will become true!

 

Follow #morethanwhalewatching  #CSRStory on our Facebook page