Tagesmeldung vom 03.04.2026
Törn 0911 | King’s Trough und Tiefseeberge
auf dem Nordatlantik
Position 43°36′ N|024°49,5′ W
Kurs, Speed 073 | 4,2kn
Etmal 101nm
Wind SW – 5bft
Luftdruck 1024 hpa
Bedeckung 8/8
Temp (L/W) 16°C, 15°C
Tagesbericht 3.04
Heading: How to identify Cetacean (whales and dolphins)
Author: Mona
Nautical Position: 43*36‘N 024*49,5‘W
Etmal: 88 sm
Course: 070
Average Speed: 4,2 kn
How to identify Cetacean (whales and dolphins)
Today my day started at 4 a.m. with my morning watch. Today the 0-4 watch only had to wake me up 2 times till I was awake. I was the first person of my watch to show up on deck (I’m quite fast at dressing since I always oversleep and learned how to dress fast). I was quite proud of myself.
So it wouldn’t get boring we played black stories and did our usual tasks (like lookout and steering). It was freezing cold eventhough it was a lot warmer than two weeks ago. On the bridge we snuggled together to keep warm. A few hours later the sun rose behind some clouds, but you could see it peeking through in a beautiful orange. Suddenly around 7 a.m. Olivia (lookout) shouted: “WHALE ON STARBOARD!“
I immediately got up (of course I didn‘t jump up and ran because that‘s prohibited) and went to the rail to have a better view. And there it was: a whale. He was just 10-30 meters away and we didn‘t just see his back fin but also his fluke. I was sooo excited, since I love seeing marine wildlife (especially in life)! He wasn‘t the first whale we saw on this journey but the first time I saw a fluke.
Afterwards I went to get our book about whales and dolphins and we tried to identify the whale we saw.
But how do we do so?
The identification checklist:
size
unusual characteristics (e.g. tooth)
Back fin (color, size and shape)
shape of body and head
color and marks
characteristics of the blow (only with big whales)
shape and marks of the fluke
Surface behavior
jumping and other behavior
Number of animals to be seen
habitat (lake, see and etc)
geographical location
Knowing all of that it should be quite easy to identify a whale with some research. Here we do it the old fashioned way with a book instead of the phone.
The only problem: It‘s almost impossible to see all those characteristics in just a few seconds. Especially since the whale didn’t show us all of his body.
All we know is that he was around 3-7 meters long, he was grey blueish and hat a triangular back fin. I haven’t been able to identify him. There is just not the right fit. We have some assumptions but I‘m not convinced. Maybe we saw a unknown species? 😉
Well, in the end I‘m happy that we saw a whale and all the other details like his species aren‘t as important. And next time I see a whale I will try to check the identification checklist!
See you soon!
Grüße:
Dreas wünscht allen frohe Ostern 😊🐇
Mona: Grüße an Mama, Papa , Hanna und Meyah. Ich wünsche euch Frohe Ostern 🐣 Hab euch lieb. Könnt ihr Opa von mir grüßen:) (Eine Frage könntet ihr etwas Bargeld nach Amsterdam mitbringen, ich gebs euch dann zurück. Dankeee)