Aug 17th - I am strolling onto the bridge for the first time in the trip and immediately spot dorsal fins ahead of us...dolphins!  Its amazing how some days you can spend hours looking out to sea and seeing nothing, yet on other occasions animals just appear on cue with no effort whatsoever!  Some of the dolphins swim slowly towards the bow of the ship, while others travel straight past and continue on their way.  I get to the bow and easily identify the bow-riding animals as rough-toothed dolphins. Unfortunately I haven't even unpacked my camera, having only been on the ship for an hour!  By the time I assemble it and return to the bow, the dolphins have left and I can take only a few shots as they move away.  Still...an excellent start to the survey!

Aug 18th - Risso's dolphins off Angola tend to be elusive!  The group of eight animals I am currently watching appeared suddenly ahead of the ship and are difficult to track despite their tall dorsal fins.  The dolphins also have quite long dive times and are quiet at the surface, and it takes all of my concentration to monitor their movement as they travel down the port side and away from the ship.

Aug 19th - Predictably, cetaceans appear the minute I leave the bridge to go and get some breakfast!  Fortunately I have a radio with me at all times on the ship, and it crackles to life as the bridge officer tells me that we have some dolphin visitors.  I run to the bridge to grab my camera and then head down to the bow.  Most of the group of 150 dolphins travel straight past the ship and do not bother to bow-ride, but a few eager individuals approach to ride the meagre bow-wave.  Their white beak tips and the pattern of thick white spots along the sides of the adults make them easily identifiable as Atlantic spotted dolphins, the most numerous dolphin species in Angolan offshore waters. 

Aug 22nd - Ahead of the ship, dolphins are performing amazing backwards somersaults. This large group look active and eager for some entertainment and I am optimistic that they might approach our ship to bow-ride.  Eventually they can resist no longer, and the first dolphins porpoise in towards the bow.  A steady stream of animals follow...but most spend only a minute or two playing in the bow-wave before moving down the starboard side of the ship where the swell crashing against the side of the ship provide further amusement as the dolphins surf and leap out of the back of the waves.

Aug 22nd - A large bushy blow off the starboard bow alerts me to the presence of a humpback whale, steady travelling south-east.  At this time of year large numbers of humpbacks are present off Angola as they use West African waters for mating and calving during the austral winter.  This animal tail-swipes twice at the surface before heading off into the distance.

Aug 23rd - The small group of dolphins that I have been watching ahead of the ship are feeding...scattered splashes and high-speed chases indicate that it is dinner time.  But they take time out from eating to visit the ship briefly.  Over 10 min, the Atlantic spotted dolphins approach in little clusters of 1 to 3 animals and bow-ride lazily in the afternoon sunlight.  To my delight, one heavily-spotted adult brings her small calf to play in the bow-wave, the youngster staying close to its mum and copying her every twist and turn.

Aug 24th - There are few sights at sea as thrilling as seeing a school of high-speed 'running' dolphins.  The group of around 130 spotted dolphins I am watching travel slowly across our bow, but suddenly pick up speed and porpoise away at speed.  Suddenly the ocean is full of small, dark shapes as the dolphins leap frantically from the water in a scattered but coordinated movement.  I'm not sure what's triggered this response, but its a spectacular view.

Aug 28th - The glassy seas this morning are producing lots of sightings for me, as animals are easy to spot even several kilometres away.  Scanning with binoculars, a dark shape catches my eye, shortly followed by a second animal which rolls clearly at the surface revealing a smooth sloped back and a small triangular dorsal fin.  Beaked whales!  I count four animals in total, and I'm able to track them through three surfacing bouts due to the favourable sea conditions.

Aug 28th - Two strange cetaceans appear off the port side, and it takes me a little while to figure out that they are dwarf sperm whales.  I'm used to seeing these animals logging at the surface, and in contrast these ones are actively rolling and travelling which presents a strange dorsal profile.  After a short while the animals adopt their typical posture of stationary logging, and I have time to take a couple of photographs before they sink below the surface and disappear from view.

Aug 28th - The ship is surrounded by the tall, diffuse blows of Bryde's whales.  I estimate at least 12 of these large baleen whales scattered across a several-kilometre area. The whales seem to be foraging, with many changes of direction and steep dives revealing their tail-stocks.  The flanks of some of the closer animals are covered in the pale circular scars from cookie-cutter shark bites.

Aug 30th - A great sighting today, as photographs taken of a group of unidentified, very splashy dolphins, turned out to reveal Fraser's dolphins!  The short beaks and tiny dorsal fin could be clearly seen in the images.  This was only the second verified at-sea record for the Gulf of Guinea region, and will doubtless prove to be the highlight of the entire survey.

Sep 3rd - Scanning the glassy seas with binoculars I am startled by the sudden appearance of two tall dorsal fins and faint blows.  I watch intently for the reappearance of these animals, which I immediately suspect to be one of the larger 'blackfish' species.  The pair roll again at the surface, and I reach for my camera and take some images.  The conical heads and long backs prove indicative of one of my favourite cetacean species, false killer whales. 

And this pair are merely the leaders of a large group of at least 50 animals...as I scan to the horizon behind them I see many more false killer whales spread out in small-sub-groups in the distance.  One sub-group of eight animals seem to be feeding...the animals do high-speed surface-rushes at the surface and breach clear of the water on several occasions.  It's frustrating to be restricted to the seismic vessel during sightings such as this...I would love to be able to approach these fantastic animals for a closer look but I have to be content with binocular views on this occasion.

Sep 4th - Again, I am grateful for my radio this morning.  I'm just sitting down to breakfast when it crackles into life and the bridge team inform me that there are dolphins beside the ship.  A small group of Atlantic spotted dolphins have returned to our vessel with the workboat, which has been out taking a Temperature-Salinity reading a few miles from the ship.  As the workboat is winched back onboard the ship, the dolphins swim along beside the vessel no doubt wondering where their fun has gone!   With a few farewell leaps, they quickly depart.

Sep 5th - I've been watching two humpbacks ahead of our ship for some time, as the splashes produced by their flipper-slapping and breaching can be seen for miles.  There is another whale even further away, which I occasionally see breaching on the horizon.  The nearest pair slowly head directly towards the bow of our ship, their longish dives interspersed with brief spells of surface activity.  A kilometre ahead of us, one of the humpbacks breaches high from the water, landing with a huge splash.  It seems that it is the same animal performing all the aerial activity, with its companion adopting a more sedate approach. I'm anticipating a close encounter with these whales, and I have my camera ready.  After every long dive, the livelier animal re-emerges with a spectacular breach and so there will be only one opportunity to capture this on film when the animals are closest.  Suddenly the still grey water erupts as the humpback emerges in a huge breach that seems to fill the landscape.  I miss the actual emergence of the animal, but am able to capture a series of shots as the animal crashes down into the ocean on to its back.  The sound of the animal crashing into the water is audible a second later...a colossal noise that must be audible to other whales for miles around.

Sep 6th - Today we ran into another foraging aggregation of Bryde's whales...at least eight animals. One of them approached to within 100 m of the ship before seemingly becoming suddenly aware of the vessel and doing a sharp U-turn to swim away again.  Another individual lunge-fed at the surface, revealing its bright pink ventral slits and pointed rostrum.

Sep 7th - The pair of humpback whales I am watching are behaving very strangely.  While one animal remains mostly subsurface throughout the sighting, the other individual is doing a headstand in the water to hold its tail stationary above the surface.  With the bright white colouration on the underside of the flukes, the whale looks like some strange item of garbage floating on the sea surface.  It never fails to amaze me how precise and manoeuvrable these huge animals are in the water.

Sep 7th - It has been a quiet day today, but not long before dusk I become aware of lots of dolphin splashes up ahead of the ship. And from the distribution of the splashes, this must be a very large group.  I am concentrating so hard on the nearing group of splashes that I almost miss some dolphins travelling closer to the ship.  This small group of around ten Atlantic spotted dolphins turns and swims past the bow, before turning back again and approaching the ship to bow-ride.  The dolphins roll onto their sides and backs and stare intently up at the ship's bow...I have never seen dolphins quite this curious before and it is exhilarating to watch.  They don't seem to mind the slow speed of the ship and simply seem to be enjoying checking out the vessel and perhaps even at me staring down the camera lens at them.

The distant splashes continue to approach and before long I can see hundreds of dolphins spread out in a huge group.  The dolphins emerge from the water in a characteristic forward leap with their tails remaining in the water, and crash down onto their bellies to produce a cacophony of slap sounds.  Some of the crew comment that this behaviour almost appears aggressive, as they are so purposeful and noisy.  As the first dolphins appear at the bow, I quickly identify them as common dolphins from the tan hourglass pattern on their sides.  Unfortunately the light has faded so badly that I'm unable to get photographs of them, with only a single picture of a bow-riding animal proving usable.  But the sight of these dolphins leaping and porpoising into the bow was one of the most spectacular events I have witnessed at sea.

Sep 8th - Perhaps a remnant from last night's common dolphin superpod, today I see a couple of smaller groups of common dolphins travelling through the area.  One of the groups approaches to within a few hundred metres of the ship, and although most of them travel straight past the vessel a handful of animals can't resist coming over for a brief bow-ride.  One small closely-knit group come towards the ship in line-abreast formation, appearing at the bow with loud whistles and spending a few minutes playing around the ship before following after the others.

Sep 8th - A second group of common dolphins later in the day are less keen to interact with the vessel, but some juveniles perform high leaps into the air as the group porpoises past the ship.

Sep 8th - An enormous bushy blow a mile off the starboard bow is the first indication I have of the presence of two humpback whales...and these guys look purposeful.  They produce a sequence of big powerful blows and then fluke coming directly towards the ship, and I have the distinct feeling that they mean business!  So I'm not too surprised when they surface again only a couple of hundred metres from the ship, one animal vigorously tail-lobbing.  I radio the crew and let them know the animals are close...some of them have never seen a whale before and are keen to come for a look.  These whales do not disappoint...I jump with shock as a loud exhalation reveals one animal less than 10 m from the side of the ship, closely followed by its comrade.  A range of point & shoot cameras, video cameras and my large lens all point at the whales...probably making them the most photographed individuals in the entire Southern Hemisphere!  As we watch, one animal half-breaches revealing it's long white flipper before falling back into the sea.  The humpbacks remain swimming alongside us for almost an hour, and it's only when we turn the ship away from them that we finally lose their company.

Sep 9th - It's not long after dawn, but already there are blows ahead of the ship.  The blows are tall but diffuse and I am already expecting these to be Bryde's whales rather than humpbacks.  This is soon proven, as the sleek narrow back of a Bryde's whale rolls at the surface, revealing the tall and falcate dorsal fin.  The nearest animal approaches to within 100 m of the bow, providing an excellent view of it's head ridges and jaw line.

Sep 9th - The sea surface is calm today, and I am not surprised to pick up a small group of three beaked whales later in the afternoon.  The whales surface several times with quiet rolls.  As is so often the case, they are orientated away from the ship and I'm unable to get a good view of their heads and beak shape.

Sep 10th - In stark contrast to yesterday, the sea today is choppy and heavy with whitecaps.  I am not optimistic about seeing too many marine mammals in these conditions, but to my surprise the large dark fins of pilot whales appear briefly between the swell waves ahead of the ship.  It is only a small group of perhaps eight animals, including two large bull males.  The whales seemed to be travelling purposefully at first, but as the ship approaches them they stop and mill in the water ahead of us.  I travel down to the bow to get a closer look, as the whales are logging immediately ahead of the ship and this looks like being a close encounter.  The whales come to within 15 m of the bow before they take action to move away from the ship, and I can clearly hear the sharp exhalations of their breath before they sound.  Another shape catches my eye and I briefly see the round shape of an olive ridley turtle swimming along behind the whales!

Sep 10th - It's certainly been a good day for pilot whales - just before dusk I sight the third group of the day.  These animals are spread out and travelling in small sub-groups but I estimate around 35 altogether.  There is also a pod of bottlenose dolphins travelling amongst them.  All of the animals seem to be on the move...they travel purposefully southwards throughout the sighting.

Sep 11th - Detecting dwarf sperm whales is so reliant on both calm sea conditions and a little bit of luck.  I can only begin to imagine how many I must miss during these surveys, since they are so small and inconspicuous and the time they spend at the surface is brief.  I have only ever spotted these animals during binocular scans, and today is no different.  I am scanning across the water when two small black shapes catch my eye.  It would be easy to dismiss this as flotsam or jetsam, but as I watch the little shapes I see one of them disappear below the surface and then reappear again.  The pair of dwarf sperm whales log at the surface for several minutes before sinking and disappearing from view.

Sep 12th - It's been a disappointingly quiet day today, but a treat is in store.  Late in the afternoon I spot dolphin splashes ahead of the ship and see a group of around 100 animals approach one of our chase boats.  Although they are still 2 miles away from me, the dolphins already don't look like the usual Stenella / Delphinus shape/behaviour.  These animals are slightly more robust and have very broad and tall dorsal fins.  Some of them perform leaps from the water, landing heavily onto their sides without the agility of the smaller dolphin species.  It is frustrating that the light is fading and the animals don't seem to be coming any closer to me.  But I'm in luck as our vessel starts a slow turn towards them.  As we get closer, the dolphins get more active and I see three animals heading to us.  I have an inkling as to what the species is, and as the animals reach the bow I am delighted to confirm my suspicions.  The sloped forehead and narrow dark grey dorsal cape confirm the species as rough-toothed dolphins.  And they are keen to play. 

The entire school approaches the ship and spends over 30 min swimming at the bow and performing acrobatics.  I am hugely frustrated that yet again dolphins have appeared at dusk and my camera is only just able to capture some images in the poor light.  The encounter is spectacular...perhaps the highlight being the sight of two adults closely flanking a tiny newborn calf as it cautiously rides the bow-wave.

Sep 15th - The final morning of the survey, and I am visited by two humpback whales who swim closely down our port side.  The whales roll their backs steeply and sound, lifting their enormous tails clear of the water to disappear beneath the surface.  A nice end to an amazing four weeks.