I was standing on the very familiar deck 10 if Brittany Ferries Pont Aven as she steamed out of Plymouth heading into the English Channel. A breeze tugs at my hair and jacket like an incessant toddler wanting my attention. The sky is clear and blue, the sun casting a molten gold that shimmers across the silky smooth water. A thought settles in me. This is where I am meant to be. Don’t get me wrong, I love my children, husband, dog and family. I am grateful for them, I love them, even if they do drive me crazy a lot of the time! But there is a part of my heart, my soul, which is most at home standing on the deck of a boat or a rugged headland, staring out to sea, gazing at that endless sea that can be a multitude of colours, from blues, greens, silver and grey to molten yellow where the sun casts its shine. Always searching, keenly gazing, surveying, scrutinising, eyes, heart, mind open and hoping for a sight of those incredible creatures that have captured my heart and imagination since a child. Dolphins, whales and porpoises, collectively known as cetaceans.
The ferry ploughed on, oblivious. This first leg of the journey across to Santander, in Spain, is not always known for its abundance of sightings. Oh there is wildlife there. There is plenty of wildlife off this coast, in the Channel and the South Western approaches. Its just in previous trips we have not encountered as much here compared with the varied depths of the Bay of Biscay.
But as they say you never know. And on a day like that, where weather conditions were near on perfect, there was definitely a sense of anticipation amongst the people gathered on that deck.
Very soon, distinctive patches of water started to come into view. Here the water appeared to be boiling. The water rippling, roiling, simmering, rolling. A mini maelstrom of water in amongst the serene waters. Instinctively we honed in on it. Birds were circling overhead, wheeling and turning, dipping and turning, dipping and dropping to the waters surface. Some skim the waves, wing tip barely touching the water, caressing it. Shearwaters. Black and white flashes of Manx, larger and brown and white of Cory’s.
The cause of this mini tempest. Fish. A ball of fish being pushed to the surface by birds, tuna, dolphins and whales. Dark dorsal fins cut through the water. The the roll of a dolphin, the double fin of a tuna leaping above the water, the comparatively long back of a minke whale. All surface amongst the boiling water, feasting on the fish. Suddenly the water explodes, white water foaming as a minke whale lunges out of the water, engulfing hundreds of fish in one mouthful.
The calls ring out across the deck, ‘sighting’, ‘dolphins’. We are kept busy pointing out animals to passengers and recording what we are seeing on ORCAs specially designed Oceanwatchers App.
Then out on the horizon a vertical spout of spray, tall columnar. Whale, but not minke. With a blow that tall and seen at that distance, its something larger and 99% likely it was a fin whale. We haven’t even lost sight of land yet, and here in the relatively shallow waters of the English Channel is the second largest animal on the planet.
Its not a total surprise. There have been plenty of reports of large amounts of wildlife inshore in recent weeks. Movements of tuna, dolphins, birds and whales in shore following fish. The local whale watching companies have even been seeing fin whales.
By the time dusk starts to fall, reducing the light levels, we have recorded at least 256 common dolphins, 22 tuna, 14 bottlenose dolphins, 5 minke whales, 5 harbour porpoise, 9 unidentified dolphins, and 1 ocean sunfish.
Splendid!
Wild Barley 