17 Days at Sea or 'So you think you know what you're in for? - Part 2

Driving up to Ipswich fresh from Whale Fest and despite the Sat Nav's helpful suggestions, getting lost repeatedly; reality began to dawn on me. I had never been on a boat for more than 12 hours straight, never been on sailboat, never done shift work through the night, nor was I familiar with acoustic monitoring; I was going to have to learn a lot in a short amount of time- and at the same time have to finish analysing data for an abstract I had to write and submit the following week and find some way to continue applying for paying jobs in the absence of normal internet access. Luckily I was not in this alone but had the support of a good friend who had actually been on a boat for longer than a day and was able to reassure me somewhat- Thanks Dan! We were both warmly welcomed with a cup of tea  and shown our 4 bed cabin which was to be our home for the next 20 days. Not everyone had arrived yet and we were advised to snag the lower bunks -which turned out to be invaluable advise once the weather turned rough! The limited storage was a bit of a shock, of course I knew cupboard space would be at a premium but where was I going to put all my clothes? It's not like I had been frivolous with my packing, quite the contrary, but thermals, ski pants and woolly socks to last nearly 3 weeks tend to take up a lot of space! Finally I ended up stashing a lot of woolies at the end of my bed, I had no intention of getting caught out in the cold!

During the course of the next morning, the rest of the crew arrived and we got a number of safety briefings, an introduction to data collection on Song of the Whale and the all important toilet and shower briefing. But more about those later. Data collection, to my great relief turned out not to be all that different to what I was used to although rather than collecting data on paper forms all sightings, the 15 minute seabird counts and environmental parameters could all be input directly into the deck computer. The only really new component was 'listening'; every 15 minutes we listened to the hydrophone and recorded boat noise, seismic noise and of course, any cetacean whistles or clicks- although for acoustically detecting porpoise we were dependent on automatic detection with a program called PAMGUARD as their vocalisations are actually outside the range of human hearing. As we went on our way down the river Orwell heading out to the North Sea, the first rota that was to rule all our lives for the next 20 or so days was produced. As we all pored over it eagerly to get an idea of what was in store for us, it quickly became evident that the doctor's recommended 8 hours sleep was a thing of the past. As data was collected all day and night, we were on a 24 hour rota that ensured some people were on duty at all times and of course there was also the general household tasks such as vacuuming, cooking, cleaning the heads (toilets) and writing the blog for IFAW website. We all took the opportunity to retire early to get a last good nights sleep before setting out on our North Sea Quest early the next day.

During the first day we were spared the nightwatch which commonly started the survey day; a 2 hour shift somewhere between midnight and dawn during which you first manned the helm - steered the boat- for an hour and then recorded acoustic data every 15 minutes during the second hour.  The idea of being responsible for the boat was alarming to those of us who had never been on a sailboat before, however, there was no need for concern as we were always paired with experienced sailors- although we did get to press a few buttons to change course which made us feel quite important! While almost always painful in the beginning, these early starts did give us the opportunity to see some amazing sunsets which we would have otherwise never have had the motivation to get out of bed for!

After another 5 hour rest the day started properly with up to 2 hours on the A-Frame, a large platform suspended over the deck to give us a better view of the environment and an improved chance of spotting marine mammals. After that it was back to the helm and data recording for two hours, followed by another hour in the A-frame. Climbing the A-frame was a challenge in itself if the weather, especially if the weather was a little rougher, and it was entertaining to watch the many different methods that people developed to scale it- especially while wielding hot mugs of tea. During calm days, the A-frame was an incredible place to observe your surroundings from but during more typical North Sea weather, or even when sailing with a strong tilt, I was quite aware of just how much more intimidating some of the large whitecapped waves looked. Matters were properly not helped that during the first safety brief we were told life jackets in the North Sea in the winter were really redundant as you were likely to freeze before you were fished out anyhow! Of course it was also quite cold up in the frame, several days I found myself massaging my life back into my numb toes after coming off duty, but the frequent tea and sometimes soup rounds that were produced by sympathetic people who could have been warming up in their beds made it worth it!

Obviously the other thing that made everything worthwhile was the wildlife encounters! Unfortunately I missed one of the more exciting sightings; despite running out barefoot in only my thermals and my waterproof coat, I was not out of the shower quick enough to catch a glimpse of the two minke whales that were sighted during the first week. Overall there was a good amount of grey seal and harbour porpoise sightings, fleeting and brief and leaving you wanting more as always. When there was no marine mammals, there was usually a good variety of birds, kittiwakes, gulls, skuas, puffins, gannets and fulmars. Puffins especially were a great favourite with the crew with their charming attempts of landing and take off. Apart from the usual suspects, we also had a couple of odd sightings that sparked almost as much excitement as cetacean sightings due to the sheer unexpectedness of seeing owls and hawks in the middle of the North Sea. The undisputed favourite however, were the white beaked dolphins. We had hoped but not expected to see any and after two were spotted during a midnight watch, many of us feared we had missed the only chance to see them. Not so, however. Once again my shower was rudely interrupted by the loud call of 'SIGHTING' from the upper deck. This time I dressed fast enough to see the sleek forms of these impressive large black and white dolphins whizzing back and forth under the boat competing for the best position on the bow. But I need not have worried at all, throughout the day we had large groups of dolphins (including juveniles) accompanying us  on our way with constant acoustic detections of whistles and buzzes and when they were not with us, large groups of sleek seabirds were feeding all around us, the ocean seemed to have suddenly come to life. A truly amazing experience! But of course you could also go several days seeing neither fin nor fluke of any marine mammal, no matter how quickly you jumped when people shouted and some days were not even the computer picked up a sound; lucky then to be with a group of people with excellent morale- and cookery skills- to boost the mood!

However, whether on or off duty, the fact that you are on a boat is inescapable if you are on survey 24/7. Being rocked to sleep in your bunk by a gentle sea state 2 is pleasant enough after a cold day on deck but you also have to be prepared to be flung across the cabin when getting out of bed if the sea state has picked up in the meanwhile! Cooking becomes an adventure when you are handling hot oil and sharp implements while trying hard to maintain your own balance. Although the stove was on hinges which allowed it to stay straight while the rest of the boat tilted, it gave the impression that it was tilting which was rather disconcerting seeing how it was usually balancing pots with vast quantities of hot food. Needless to say rough sea states proved a source of entertainment during dinnertime as well when you had to pursue your bowl across the table! And then, of course there was the toilets; source of hilarity and fear in equal measure. Song of the Whale's pump action toilets provided a work out in themselves, requiring at the least 30 brisk pumps at the lever and at worst 15 minutes of continuous pumping- and vigorous cursing or praying depending on your personal disposition- to get the job done. On the plus side they also provided an inexhaustible topic of conversation! And let me share a secret with you; lots of marine biologists get seasick to varying degrees, they have just found ways to cope with it. Mine takes the form of Traveleeze, bananas and lots of ginger biscuits. You just need to find what works for you and go with it, it may still be unpleasant but it will hopefully no longer be the end of the world.

So was it all worth it? Definitely.