Giant Squid, Pilot Super Pod and Sperm Whale was sighted today as we cruised the hunting grounds and came across a collection of incredible creatures of the deep. Our first sighting was of the happy, smiling faces of the Pilot Whales as they travelled past and seemed to be on a mission this morning for breakfast. Our next observation was a bright red mass floating on the waters surface, surrounded by Shearwaters and Albatross it was soon clear to see why. An enormous squid was floating and had been nibbled on but still remained fairly intact. Looking closely the shape and appearance of this individual indicated a possible Colossal Squid which was very exciting as our usual rare observations of such large individuals at the surface are generally the Giant Squid. The birds made the most of this big meal as they picked and fussed over it in an attempt to break it down into smaller, more manageable sized pieces. Cruising onwards all eyes scanned for signs of activity with good birdlife around and a clearing horizon.
A muffled blow was spotted by Jydee and on our approach we were excited to see a lone male Sperm Whale calmly re-oxygenating at the surface. He took multiple breaths as he prepared for his next foraging dive and it was very special to drift with him as we watched the methodical and peaceful process. It always completes with the most magnificent farewell as the graceful round out dive to the depths lifts the fluke high and today was no exception as water fell away from the fluke like a waterfall and into the hunting grounds he disappeared. Onwards we went and our search continued for the apex predator of our ocean after meeting the worlds largest toothed predator. It was smaller dorsal fins that appeared next though as the Pilot Whales were back and to our astonishment and in a completely different area to this morning a second squid was floating at the surface and this one looked a lot more like a Giant Squid. We were very excited to see how the Pilot Whales were going to respond as they moved past a possible food source but after swimming within a few feet of it and having a good look they moved on, perhaps only the freshest calamari will do! Amazing to see not just one but two enormous squid today and as we joined with the Pilot whales we could see this had formed into a super pod as for as far as the eye could see they were surfacing. The estimate would have been six to seven hundred individuals and we were thrilled to see so many happy Pilots enjoying their time in The Patch.
