CSR_08 (July, 4th-10th)

Despite the tricky weather conditions, the crew of the 8th CSR cruise made some very interesting encounters with cetaceans and other marine life during the week onboard Pelagos. Several striped dolphins, turtles, shearwaters, tuna fish, a sun fish and a manta ray were sighted in the first days, but we did not have to wait long for the big guys to show up. While acoustically tracking a sperm whale, we spotted the blow of a fin whale feeding nearby. After collecting the relevant data, we went back to the odontocete, which was recognized as an old friend called Bios thanks to the matching with our catalogue. The day after, three more fin whales were sighted in the pelagic area, again showing a typical feeding behaviour. The wind was blowing strong on the way back to Sanremo and it prevented us from going out on the following day. Nevertheless we had the chance for an interesting trip to the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco. We were lucky to have onboard Margherita, telling us about the results of over 20 years of research on the Mediterranean fin whale.
A whale of a week, as usual.

Enrico, Marie, Barbara and Sydni

Following link is for participants of this week's expedition, showing the ship's route, pictures of some of the sightings and of some moments of the cruise which were memorable (or even not so...)

Ai partecipanti al turno è dedicato uno spazio con il percorso effettuato durante la settimana, le foto di alcuni avvistamenti e qualche immagine dei momenti da ricordare - importanti e non