9. peatükk | Hr Kašelott | Mr. Liable-Reliable

9. peatükk

Hr Kašelott

Täna oli uus katse vaalaretke osas. Ja ennäe – ei olnudki tühistatud! Juhuu! Kas saabki teoks minu üks ammuseid unistusi – näha „valaskala“? Võib ka minna nii, et me ei näe, aga selle mõtte ma tõrjusin kohe.

Me valisime oma laevaks katamaraani, see on suurem ja seal on ka WC. Vannipaadiga mina keeldun (esimest korda) ookeanile minemast. Muidugi oli ilm hall ja pilves, aga tegelikult oli väga hea valgus. Samas – mida kaugemale saarest, seda ilusamaks läks ja kui olime juba üsna kaugel, oli saar halli pilve sees ja meie päikese käes. Imeilus ilm – Atlandi ookean on nii sinine-sinine. Meie laevas oli terve punt Saksa pensionäre, noori inimesi üsna vähe, seega sain oma hea koha reelingu ääres sisse võtta ja kellelegi ei jäänud mina ette ega keegi ei jäänud ka mulle ette. Oma laevalemineku järjekorras seistes saime küll ühe selle penskari käes väga valju „Tchs!“ (sakslane ju) 

Oi kuidas mulle meeldis sellega seal ookeanil! Algus ei osanud ma õiget kohta omale valida ja siis mingil hetkel laev pidurdas ristilainetel niimoodi, et oli tegu, et mitte üle parda lennata. Kõikide liikmetega oli vaja kinni hoida igalt poolt.

Ja siis äkki – delfiinid, igal pool, parves. Tean, et neile meeldib laevadega koos sõita ja hüppeid sooritada. Väga raske on neid tabada kaameraga, kui nad kargavad välja täitsa suvalisest kohast. Jälgisin mõnel korral pingsalt kindlat isendid ja ikka ta tuli välja nii, et pilti ei saanud. Esimese liigina nägime tavadelfiini. Natukese aja pärast ilmusid Atlandi täpilised delfiinid. Aga laevas valitses pinge. Vaalapinge. Ma tean, et oktoobris rännulisi enam ei kohta, vahel harva, kõige liigirikkam aeg on ikka mai-juuni, kuid sealsetes vetes elas kohaliku liigina kašelott. 

Ja seal ta oligi. Instruktor mikrofoniga teatas, et „We have a sperm-whale! On the left!“ olin justkui valelpool, aga siis laev keeras ja olin täpipealt õigel pool, kuigi jäin üles. Ehk oleks alumiselt tekilt parema pildi saanud, kuigi siis oli oht, et jääb laine taha peitu. Ookeanilained on sellised rasked, massiivsed nagu seinad ja suuremad, kui pealtnäha paistavad. 

Ilmnes, et see isend on vana tuttav, 16-meetrine Mr. Liable-Reliable (hr Vastutustundlik-Usaldusväärne).

Härra pidas just lühiajalist pausi, ta oli nimelt toitumas. Me nägime ainult jäämäe tippu, mis kõik oli vee all, seda kujutasin ette. Aga siis – instruktor rääkis, et varsti ta sukeldub u 2 km sügavusele ja jääb vee alla kuni tunniks, aga enne näitab ta oma saba, kui ta hoogu võtab. Ja lisas, et kui ta hääl muutub erutusest kõrgeks, siis ongi see hetk käes. Ja järgmise saba nägemiseks oleks vaja oodata kuni tund aega. Ja siis ta juba hüüdiski „He is going to show the tail!“ (Ta näitab kohe-kohe saba!)
Ja ta läks. Majesteet sukeldus ja vee peal valitses vaikus. 

Üks saksa mees pildistas u sama kaameraga, mis mina, kuigi objektiiv oli teine ja nii ta siis muudkui võttis mõõtu minu omast ja tekkis selline veider vaikiv konkurentsitaoline dialoog, aga sõbralik. Kumbki kuulis, kui teine täristas sarivõttega pilte teha :) aga ta oli pakpoordis, nii et me polnud kõrvuti (ma olin tüürpoordis). Aga huvitav oleks teada, milliseid pilte tema sai :) Juttu ajama me ei hakanud.

Pärast hr Usaldusväärse sukeldumist pöördusime koju tagasi ja kohtasime veel laiksilm-delfiine. Delfiinid on ikka väga armsad.

Kõik loomad on metsikud ja ilma saatjateta, neid "peilitakse" välja mingite muude vahenditega, ja siis peetakse omavahel sidet, kui on kusagil nähtud, võetakse turistidega laev sinna suunas. Me sattusime väga õnnelikul hetkel kohale, sest enne seda ja pärast seda vist nädal vähemalt polnud nähtud ühtegi vaala. Aga raha tagasi saab vaid juhul, kui üldse mitte kedagi ei näe. Delfiine näeb aga pea alati, ja nii oligi see üks kašelott meile täielikuks rosinaks. 

Ma loodan, et see oli mu elu esimene ja mitte viimane valaskala :) 

Algus oli väga hall  |  In the beginning it was all gray

Vannipaat ookeanil  |  Bath tub boat (rubber) on the Atlantic ocean

Saar jäigi uttu  |  The island stayed in the fog

Atlandi tormilind kolme sukeldunud delfiiniga  | 

Cory’s shearwater with three dived dolphins

Calonectris borealis 

Tavadelfiinid, Delphinus delphi, Common dolphin

Atlandi täpiline delfiin, Atlantic spotted dolphin, Stenella frontalis

Pudelnina-delfiin, ehk laiksilm-delfiin, ehk silmikdelfiin ehk afaliin

Bottlenose dolphin

Tursiops truncates 

Kašelott ehk võidisvaal, Physeter macrocephalus, Sperm Whale

 Täpilised delfiinid  |  Spotted dolphins

Pudelnina  |  Bottlenose

Selfie Atlandil

 Selline näeb välja üks turistide vaalaretk  |

This is how the real whale watching looks like :)

Üks vooster, kes ei viitsinud lennata :D  |

A lazybone who wasn’t very keen on flying :D 

Chapter 9

The Whale Watching

Today we had a second chance to go out to the Atlantic to spot some cetaceans. Is it today when one of my dream come true? It may be that we don't see whale(s) but I rejected that thought wery quickly.

We chose the bigger boat for our trip, it looked safer and there is a toilet ;) 

I refuse to go on the ocean with the “bathtub” (rubber boat).

It was all gray and cloudy when we sailed out but the colors were good for photographing. But the further away we went the more clear it became and soon we had a deep blue sky and all the gray mist was behind us. The island was in the mist. It was very warm even with the speed we took. 

The Atlantic ocean is very beautiful to look at. We had in our boat a big group of German tourists and most of them seem to be retired people so they sat nicely on their seat and I had the opportunity to take the place in the very edge. No-one was on my way. 

I loved the ride! The waves are so much bigger when you are on them, when you look at them being on the land you don’t actually get the feeling just how big they can be and the boat was swinging heavily. You just have to hold on. The first time the captain used brakes was very difficult to stay put – I had to use all my strength and all my limbs to stay there. Lucky! The camera just hanged from my neck. 

And then suddenly – dolphins! Lot of them. Swimming with the boat, jumping and playing. It is rather difficult to capture them with tele-lens while your surface under the feet is moving and the object is moving and they always come up where you don’t expect them to come up. The first dolphin was the common dolphin. But very soon there were Atlantic spotted dolphins. I had never seem them before. I only have seen a bottle-nose dolphin once, a long time ago, so all the others were new to me. 

I felt the whale tension on the boat. But no whale yet. I saw Cory’s shearwaters flying and tried to capture those. Fantastic! Another new species to my birding list. 

And there he was. The instructor said on his microphone very excitedly “ We have a sperm-whale! On the left side!” I seemed to be on the wrong side but then we turned and I was exactly on the right side. Maybe I could have a better picture from the lower deck but then again – there were slow and massive waves and I may have not make it there on time, we were swinging strongly.

It seemed to be an old acquaintance Mr. Liable-Reliable. He was just having a short brake to get some oxygen between meals. They can dive 2 km and stay there almost an hour. We saw only his back, like a tip of an iceberg. 

Our instructor said that he is going to dive soon and that he will tell us where to be ready, because at that time he is going to show his tail and he does that only once, when he is going down again. This was very soon, the man was exited again and yelled that “He is going to show the tail! Be ready!” and we were. 
And the majesty dived. And there was silence on the water. 

There  was this one German gentleman who had maybe the same camera as I, only the lens was something else, and he constantly tried to look what is my camera’s number. But he didn’t come to say hello he just watched all the time :D It would be interesting though, to see what moments he captured. I heard his shutter ;)

After seeing Mr. Liable-Reliable we returned home and on our way we met bottlenose dolphins as well. They are so cute, dolphins. So it was actually a lucky day, we saw 4 species of cetaceans and I scored at least 2 new bird species.  And my dream came true – I saw the whale. 

Sperm whales are resident species of Azores islands and they live there all year long but the area is very vast and there can be weeks when no whale is to be seen. All the animals are wild, no gps are on them and it was a very good timing to get there when he was on his breeding break. 

I hope this was only my first whale, not the last :)