Beth's Western Tropical Pacific Adventures: Feb 3, 2007

Hello everyone!

I have been keeping a daily log of the goings-on while at sea. Mostly the animals we see, interesting things that happened, and of course the movies I've watched. This is an integral part of our evening activities out here! Things become pretty simple when you're life is based on a schedule of cruising around the ocean looking for stuff with the same people everyday. Anyhow, feel free to peruse the daily log from Leg 1!

Jan 16, 2007 - We're off into the blue yonder!!

Sightings of the day:
Streaked shearwater
Sooty terns (2)
Brown noddy
(P.S. Thanks to Josh and Hannah for the tropical seabird identification guides, they’re getting much use!)

Movies watched:
The Interpreter with Nicole Kidman – thriller
Step Up – cheesy dance movie

Books read:
None to date

Jan 17, 2007:

Sightings of the day:
Brown noddy
Sooty terns
Frigatebird (Female – Jim saw it)
Tropicbird
Flying fish!!! There are some big ones out here!

Movies watched:
Click with Adam Sandler

Books read:
The Botany of Desire

Jan 18, 2007
Sightings of the day:
White tailed tropicbird
3 Sei whales!!! (“Say, it’s a sei whale”!)
Lots of flying fish

Movies watched:
Alien vs. Predator

Books read:
none

Jan 19, 2007
Sightings of the day:
Nada...not looking good
(Sperm whales were heard on the hydrophone, but we couldn’t find them for the life of us)

Movies watched:
The Da Vinci Code

Books read:
Blue Latitudes

Jan 20, 2007
January 20, 2007 – Saturday!
Sightings of the day:
2 different sightings of sei whales – 5 and 1!!! Maybe the same ones following us, but who knows (also they hang just below the surface and follow our boat...)
White tailed tropicbird
Possible Hawaiian petrel (Pterodroma of some sort)
Matsudaira storm petrel
Tons of flying fish
Not much marine debri, but some – plastic water bottle, fishing buoy

Movies watched:
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

Books read:
Blue Latitudes – great for being at sea!

Finally reached a Beaufort 7 today – wahoo! Still observing without the bigeyes, just binos. Still waiting for my first sighting...hopefully soon...

January 21, 2007

Going downswell – and west (let’s go to Indo...no all the way to the Panama Canal!)

Sightings of the day:
Dark rumped storm petrel
White necked storm petrel
Frigatebird
Flocks of sooty terns
Flying fish
Wedge tailed shearwater
Sei whale (1), sperm whale (1), unid large whale

Movies watched:
Mission Impossible: III
Stick It – There’s no “nice” in gym-nas-tics

Books read:
Blue Latitudes – great for being at sea!

January 22, 2007

Going into the trough, downswell, too...not too bad, still no sightings for me...;(

Sightings of the day:
Sooty terns, white (Fairy) tern, Black noddy
Richard saw a unidentified cetacean (maybe beaked whale, never saw it again)
watched dip-netting at night while drifting – first night! 2 spp of squid, flying fish, myctophid and water spider

Movies watched:
Bait – with Jamie Foxx (really good)
Best of Wil Ferrell 2 - SNL

Books read:
Blue Latitudes – great for being at sea!

January 23, 2007
Another bumpy, pounding day into the wind, trough; frustrating with big eyes (and still no sightings for me)
Sightings of the day:
Sooty terns, white terns
Cornelia and I thought we saw something “ziphius”-like (beaked whale), but never resighted it – pale brown, smooth, oblong, at the surface then gone (lots of debris in the water so suspicious)
One sighting of spotted dolphins but they were pretty elusive, only a couple good looks
Spent most of time at sunset looking for dolphins acoustics could hear, but didn’t see them until after sunset – bowriding! Jim Cotton thinks they were Tursiops aduncus
Manta Ray!
Plastic in water
Tursiops sp. (Bottlenose dolphins) bowriding at night

Movies watched:
Stealth- with Josh Lucas, Jessica Biel and Jamie Foxx

Books read:
Blue Latitudes – great for being at sea!
Harrison guide to seabirds
Marine mammal guidebook

January 24, 2007
Sightings of the day:
Dark-rumped (HI) petrel
Melon-headed whales
Movies watched:
The Covenant – with warlocks (male witches)

January 25, 2007
Another bumpy, pounding day into the wind, trough; frustrating with big eyes (and still no sightings for me); started to calm down later in the day, working on the east side of Guam – about 34 miles off...crossed over a bank less than 125 feet deep, lots of bird, flying fish activity, no marine mammals...
Sightings of the day:
Sooty terns, white terns
4 sei whales, Greg saw a blow while I was relieved on my watch late in the day...
Adam saw a shark off bow

Movies watched:
Curious George
Bridge over the River Kwai

Books read:
Blue Latitudes
“Elephant Seals”

Jan 26, 2007
Sightings of the day:
Sooty terns, white terns, red tailed tropicbird, white tailed tropicbird
Sperm whale
Movies watched:
Tokyo Drift – (ala Fast and Furious, but pretty stupid except last scene when Vin Diesel shows up)
Anomaly – a TGR ski movie
Books read:
Blue Latitudes

January 27, 2007
Going southwest now, downswell so we can actually focus on things in the big eyes, but it’s a Beaufort 7 with 32 knot winds, so still not much to see but a lot of white caps (A lot of them!). The plan is to go downswell during the day, then pound into it at night to the next line, should be fun...
Sightings of the day:
Herald petrel, Juan Fernandez/White Chinned petrel, Matsudaira storm petrel, white and sooty terns
Movies watched:
Miami Vice
Books read:
Blue Latitudes

January 28, 2007
Sightings of the day:
Finally saw a blow! Sei whale
Movies watched:
Talladagga Nights with Will Ferrell
Books read:
Blue Latitudes

January 29, 2007
Sightings of the day:
Beaufort 4! (suntanned for a little bit even!)
Wedgetailed shearwater
Macerdieran storm petrel
Bryde’s whale – my first sighting! 39 right, reticle 0.3
Spotted dolphins
Movies watched:
Almost Famous
Blue Collar Comedy Show (Mario got mad at us for laughing and being loud...whoops)
Books read:
Blue Latitudes

finally drank my other bottle of wine to celebrate (and 3 others with about 8 people...it was nice)

January 30, 2007
Sightings of the day:
Beaufort 3-4 really nice
Bryde’s whale, sei whale, spotted dolphins, unid dolphins
Brown noddy (up close), streaked shearwater, Macedarin storm petrel, big flock of sooty and white terns, pterodromas
Movies watched:
Eight Below (dogs in Antarctica)
The 40-year old virgin
Books read:
Blue Latitudes
Played spades with Tom and Adam

January 31, 2007
Sightings of the day:
Nothing for me (sperm whale by others) – bummer...two suspicious bird flocks with splashes, but can’t turn on those...I’m learning and getting used to bigeyes (and politics)

Movies watched:
Domino (the Domino Harvey true Bounty Hunter story) – really good! With Keira Knightly
Books read:
Blue Latitudes

February 1, 2007
Sightings:
Red-foot booby fishing for flying fish off our bow, sei whale
Movies watched:
Thicker than Water (makes me wanna surf!)

February 2, 2007
Skunked! Our last day of leg 1, and we saw nothing. No sightings by anyone today!!! Bummer, especially since this is the "pro tour" according to Jim... (I told it's the Master's tour, since he turns 60 this year - joking!). Then, immediately after we ended our search efforts for the day a sei whale blew and none of us saw it! The acoustician and captain saw it, though.

We had a swim call to celebrate being done with leg 1, then put it full steam to the southern tip of Guam, arrived in port about 8 am the next morning! Port call - we're off the boat until February 6 at 7 am - woohoo!!! I feel like a sailor already!