Author: Jean Tresfon
Arriving at Morningstar Flying Club at 7am ready for our Southern Right Whale Survey. I found the airfield completely fogged in and the outside air temperature sitting at a chilly 4 degrees. Hoping that the fog would soon burn off, I pre-flighted and packed the gyrocopter. By 8am the fog had cleared and, after pulling on multiple layers of exposure protection, I took off into the crisp morning air. The Durbanville farm fields were still covered in fog as I skirted the edge of the Tygerberg Hills, with just the massive powerlines sticking out like a giant spider’s web waiting to catch an unwary aircraft. I routed over the Bottelary Hills, through the Lourensford Gap and over Sir Lowry’s Pass, before intersecting the coast at Kleinmond and following the shoreline to Stanford where I landed at the magnificent Grootbos Private Nature Reserve to top off the tanks and collect Els.
Taking off again, we routed back to Hermanus harbour to begin the survey. Spotting conditions were far from optimal, with all rivers pouring brown silty water into the ocean and the recent big seas having mixed the sediment into a pea soup like appearance. As if that were not bad enough, there were massive red tides everywhere and the water visibility was effectively zero. Anything on the surface could be seen, but anything even a metre down was invisible! Flying over the Walker Bay whale sanctuary we were surprised not to see any whales, but even more so when we rounded Danger Point not having seen a single whale in the whole of Walker Bay! Slightly concerned we headed around the corner, passing Uilenkraalsmond and the shark tourism boats anchored not far away.
At Pearly Beach we spotted the Dyer Island Cruises licensed whale watching vessel, Dream Catcher, and circled for a look. There were no whales on the surface, but a disturbed patch of water nearby gave the game away and after a few minutes of circling overhead a mother and calf surfaced and gave us our first sighting of the survey. Further along there were several more whales, including a beautiful pair of bright white brindle animals, and by the time we rounded the southern tip of the African Continent at Agulhas we had counted 11 cow & calf pairs. The plains surrounding Agulhas formed one giant floodplain with the ground completely saturated and water pouring into the sea from multiple small rivers. Rounding Northumberland Point we arrived at Struisbaai, and the Plaat we spotted a pod of humpback dolphins hunting fish in the shallows and then more southern right whales, counting 43 cow & calf pairs between there and Struispunt. Rounding the Baaken and routing to Waenhuiskrans/Arniston we found a few whales just off Saxon Reef, as well as deeper in the bay near the famous cave which lends the area its name.
At Ryspunt and Skipskop there is a shallow rocky shelf that runs a long way out to sea and we had to fly a little further offshore to find deeper water and more whales, with many leaving trails in the muddy water. Rounding Skipskop Point we arrived at Koppie Alleen, possibly the most important nursery ground for southern right whales anywhere in the world and home to around 80% of South Africa’s southern right whales during calving season. Despite having low expectations, we were delighted to have a tally of 176 cow & calf pairs between Koppie Alleen and Struispunt, with most being found in the bay offshore of the De Hoop Collection Nature Reserve dune fields. Continuing on to Uiterstepunt and the Infanta lighthouse we found another 26 cow & calf pairs, before rounding the point and finding St Sebastian Bay completely fogged in. We climbed up over the fog bank and routed inland to our landing strip but found it was obscured under the fog. With our fuel supply getting low we had to make a decision and, as we were about to divert to the De Hoop Nature Reserve airfield, the edge of the fog bank seemed to be retreating. A couple more circuits and suddenly our airstrip was visible, and we had an uneventful landing.
By the time we had refueled the gyrocopter and had a bite to eat, the sky was miraculously clear, almost as if we had imagined the fog. Taking off over the Breede River mouth we completed the survey in St. Sebastian Bay, counting another 9 cow & calf pairs, before heading back to Grootbos on a more direct line and passing over a very full looking Soetendalsvlei (apparently South Africa’s second largest freshwater lake). From there we routed over a patchwork quilt landscape of bright yellow canola fields back to Grootbos to land, refuel, say goodbye to Els and get back in the sky for the final leg home. I decided to stay on the coast and flew around Cape Hangklip, passing Pringle Bay and Rooiels on the way to Gordon’s Bay and the Strand before routing inland and heading back to base.
I landed after 7.1 hours in the air with a total count of 265 cow & calf pairs of southern right whales. This number, although about half that of last year’s count, was still higher than we were expecting given the more recent shift to a five year calving cycle and highlights the need for continued research and observation of these iconic marine mammals.
留言