Journals 2004/2005

Linda Hoffman
Palms Middle School, West Los Angeles, California

"Structure of Populations, Levels of Abundance, and Status of Humpback whales (SPLASH)" NOAA Ship McArthur July 28 - August 28, 2004

Journal Index: July 28 - 29 - 30 - 31 August 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11           12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19           21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - 28

August 22, 2004

After breakfast I did some more photo identification. After lunch I went on the sky bridge to help re-sight a humpback. I was able to re-sight him for the scientists immediately, which is always a great feeling. This humpback whale kept us on a wild goose chase. He kept disappearing and I kept re-sighting him. We never got more than a dorsal fin photo, which is not good for identification. We finally gave up trying to get a good photo of this humpback, as it was also too choppy to send out the R1. It was an exceptionally cold day even though it was not windy. I had to cover my nose with my scarf and my fingers were frozen in my normally warm gloves. When I got back to my room, I put my fingers in warm water to thaw them out. Ouch! I later learned that is not the correct thing to do. What does a California girl know about frozen fingers?

Dinner was fantastic. After dinner I interviewed some of the scientists.