During the last week of June our team of Marine Mammal Surveyors on board the Brittany Ferries, Salamanca, sailed from Portsmouth to Santander for a fantastic survey through the English Channel and across the Bay of Biscay.
Experienced Surveyor, Dee, shares her experience:
After departing from Portsmouth on Monday evening, it was an early alarm call after our first night on board the Salamanca, to head up to the bridge at 5am to start our surveys. We were just north of the Channel Islands and the day started well with numerous sightings of common dolphins which continued throughout the day as well as a few ocean sunfish.
By evening we were approaching the Abyssal Plain of the Bay of Biscay and one of those Bonkers Biscay moments happened just before we finished our survey with around 60 common dolphins approaching us from all angles!
The next morning we did not survey from the bridge as we approached Santander, but news that the survey team on board the Pont-Aven sailing from Plymouth to Santander had recorded pilot whales, Cuvier’s beaked whales and northern bottlenose whales a few days earlier, got us very excited for our return journey later that day!
With temperatures reaching 40° in Santander, two of the team decided to stay on board the Salamanca while we were in port. Myself and the other team member decided to explore the town, have a quick swim and an ice cream before heading back to the Salamanca to start our return journey and our surveys from the bridge.
On leaving Santander, we were very quickly rewarded with a sighting of two Cuvier’s beaked whales and although we then had a few hours without another sighting, we did record a few common dolphins and the distant blow of a large whale later that day.
On the final day we were on the bridge at 5am a few hours away from the islands off of Brest which then took us back into the English Channel. We recorded a few separate sightings of common dolphins as we sailed back towards Portsmouth.
The team were unanimous in agreeing that we had had a great survey, had gelled well as a team and had all had a jolly good time!