Hélène Quévreux, our new biologist for the 2023 season tells us about her first week onboard and the start of the new scientific programme!
This week, Celtic Mist crew’s was spoiled! Not only we had had an incredible weather and delicious dishes all week (soups, sandwiches, pasta and all kind of vegetables!) but we had amazing sightings too!
Our first day started at sunrise in Kinsale with good weather (sunny, calm sea). Before we left the bay, the crew discovered the wildlife in the Irish Sea and the scientific purpose of the Celtic Mist through a presentation given by IWDG’s Science Officer, Becky who joined had also joined the vessel for the week. As we left Kinsale Harbour, things really began to get started! Throughout our morning we spotted a few pods of common dolphins as we made our way offshore, but unfortunately, the weather was getting worse by the end of the day. This was dood for sailing with the main sail, but not for spotting animals. We finished our looong day of spotting in the swell in Glandore harbour where we had a beautiful view of the shore and a nice meal. As they say, a well feed crew is a happy crew!
The second day was outstanding! First, we decided to start the morning with a dip into cold water (good for the body, good for the mind!). Second, spotting conditions were absolutely ideal, with sunshine and turquoise almost glassy mirror seas, that make us feel like we were sailing in tropical waters. And third, we recorded around 300 common dolphins (including some very chatty groups where we could hear them whistling as they were bow-riding!). We also encountered at least 11 minke whales, 18 grey seals, one harbour porpoise and so many birds species such as gannets, fulmars, shearwaters and puffins. What a day! We spent our night in Baltimore marina and celebrated our day with a pint in a pub.
Day 3 was still amazing. As soon as we left Baltimore, we were able to observe a harbour porpoises’ pod. These animals are usually known to be quite shy, but we were able to observe them swim close to the boat, even hearing them breath. We also spotted a minke whale close to the shore which looked to be feeding and was accompanied by diving gannets and kittiwakes. After a few hours sailing with clear spotting weather, a female Risso’s dolphin and her VERY new-born came up to the surface next to Celtic Mist! We had this remarkable chance to witness for a few minutes this tiny little baby. We all had this feeling it was learning to swim and breathe as it clumsily surfaced, sometimes rostrum first. It was such a beautiful moment and we sat back with the engines off to make sure they weren’t disturbed.
We also were extremely luck to sail pass Fastnet Lighthouse, the tallest and widest rock lighthouse tower in Ireland and Great Britain, it calm conditions. The lighthouse marks the most southerly point of Ireland and is usually surrounded by swell and waves lashing the rock. We then made our way offshore wants again to take advantage of the calm conditions. Other minke whales, common dolphins and seals were sighted during the day, although it was quieter offshore, with most of the life spotted at the start and end of the day. We then sailed back to Glandore for the night and enjoyed with a gorgeous sunset with dinner!
Day 4 marked the last day of sailing day. After a quick swim (for the bravest…) we weighted anchor towards Crosshaven. Unlike the other days, we stayed pretty close from the shore. The weather was good for spotting in the morning but deteriorated in the afternoon. Although this did mean that we could raise the main sail! We had a few common dolphins and one Minke whale sighting. We reached Crosshaven harbour late afternoon. As we clearly had not enough, we went in a sea view restaurant for dinner! The best way to finish this sailing week.
Thanks to the weather conditions we were able to sail over than 180 nautical miles (more than 330km), to spend nearly 30 hours on visual effort (searching for animals) and had more than 100 sightings. This is a great start for our scientific program!
A warm thank you to the crew for this lovely week! We couldn’t have collected such robust data without you.
This year’s surveys are being run in collaboration with Fair Seas. During the season Celtic Mist will be surveying the waters of the Southwest Coast and Loop Head to Kenmare Areas of Interest (AoI) collecting vital information on the marine life in our waters.