Barents Sea
On this trip, most mornings we wake up to the call about some fantastic wildlife sighting and today was no different. This morning’s treat was a sperm whale that was spotted just off the ship. Sperm whales are true creatures of the deep as they can dive to over a mile deep and stay down for over an hour. This means that they need to stay at the surface for awhile to re-oxygenate their system and we were fortunate that we spotted this whale early during this surface interval. We had great looks at its wrinkly head and single blowhole that is located to the far left side of its head so its breath angles out to roughly 45 degrees. Just as everyone was out on deck with their cameras, the whale arched it back, raised its flukes and went down for a long, deep dive.
Throughout the day there were interesting presentations from the staff members. First we heard about animal adaptations for the Arctic by legendary naturalist Tom Richie; we learned all about lichens from Liz Bradfield and had the chance to see another excellent film, this one about black bears from our Global Guest Speaker David Wright.
The weather gods were kind to us as we had calm conditions all day and a second sighting of a single male sperm whale just after lunch. It is only the male sperm whales that will travel further north as the females stay with their young in the warmer temperate waters. We were sailing over deep underwater canyon areas where the main prey species of sperm whales, the giant squid, can be found.
This evening after dinner we docked in Tromso. We had the chance to go into town to stretch our legs and sample the local nightlife. It was the perfect ending to a relaxing day at sea.
