A Voyage of Exploration Around the World - leg Seven: Cape Town-Dakar
- ph87gb
- Jun 1
- 4 min read
31st March to 3rd April – Cape Town
Whilst moored in Cape Town there were thousands of Greater Crested and Common Tern alongside, joined by as many Hartlaub’s Gull. Several Cape Fur Seals kept us, and the passengers entertained in the port.
In Cape Town, Anno left the ship and Peter re-joined us for the next leg of the cruise.
3rd April – At Sea to Lüderitz, Namibia
After leaving Cape Town on the 3rd the Oceanic current became a cooler 20° Celsius as waters of the northerly flowing Benguela current came into effect. There were initially plenty of birds to be seen including 800+ White-chinned Petrel and hundreds of over wintering Great and Cory’s Shearwaters, many more White-capped Albatross and a single Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross along with low numbers of Wilson’s and European Storm-petrel. The afternoon “dried up” without obvious reason, as did our last sightings of Cape Gannet but there was a single Humpback Whale sighted.
4th April – Anchored off Lüderitz
The 4th April was anchored of Lüderitz, Namibia, where many guests enjoyed boat excursions and great experiences with leaping Heaviside’s Dolphin close to their boats. The day list from the anchored ship and an evening departure included African Penguin, 5000+ Cape Cormorant, 30 Cape Gull, 40 Hartlaub’s Gull, 20 Black-browed Albatross and 30 White-capped Albatross.
5th April – Walvis Bay
An overnight journey northwards saw Bolette approaching Walvis (Dutch for whale) Bay where at dawn, on the 5th, thousands of porpoising Cape Fur Seals were heading out fishing. A single Humpback Whale was seen as we entered Walvis Bay. A single Cory’s Shearwater was rescued from the ship, whilst the journey into and out of Walvis Bay produced around 100 Wilson’s Storm Petrels.
See the separate post for a photo-summary of some of the other wildlife seen. Leaving Walvis Bay in the evening
6th to 8th April – at Sea to St Helena
The 6th saw the start of 3 sea days north-westward towards Saint Helena. Marine mammals throughout the crossing and often over very deep water were fairly consistent. Striped Dolphin was the most abundant cetacean with 770 noted, often in large groups, followed by 600 Common Dolphin, 30 Risso’s Dolphin, 32 Short-finned Pilot Whale, at least 12 Gervais’s Beaked Whale, 3 Bryde’s Whale, 3 Sperm Whale, a wonderful 15 Pygmy Killer Whale and a single Cuvier's Beaked Whale.
When the cetaceans and birds weren’t around Flying Squid and Flyingfish of several species provided entertainment and focus at close quarters along with an Ocean Sunfish, Oceanic White-tipped, a Blue Shark and an immaculate Green Turtle. A White-bellied Storm-petrel in un-even heavy wing moult conspicuously fluttered its 3 remaining left primaries near the bow joining the more numerous Leach’s Storm-petrel and occasional Wilson’s Storm-petrel. Approaching Saint Helena Red-billed Tropicbird and White Tern became more frequent.
9th April – St Helena
Today would be another shore day for the OWE team but we had an hour or two on deck after dawn before we could get the tender ashore. Most dramatic sighting was a pod of several hundred dolphins performing some very energetic leaps in amongst all their splashing and feeding, photos suggest some at least were Pantropical Spotted Dolphin.
The local nesting seabirds were all seen from the ship before we went ashore, including Red-billed Tropicbird, White Tern, Masked Booby and Black Noddy.
As we sailed away in the evening a large pod of dolphins, numbering several hundred could be seen, were they the same pod as this morning? Unfortunately, they were even further offshore and detail in photos insufficient to suggest an identification. Four St Helena Storm Petrel were seen heading back to the island.
10th to 13th April – St Helena to Dakar
A change of heading saw Bolette moving north from Saint Helena for consecutive days at sea. Band-rumped Storm Petrel, Leach’s Storm Petrel, White-bellied Storm Petrel and Bulwer’s Petrel, were widely and thinly spread as were Long-tailed Skua, Arctic Skua and the more locally distributed Ascension Frigatebird and Cape Verde Shearwater. 2000 or so Sooty Tern just north of Saint Helena on the 11th were a more compact and spectacular sight in what was a very hot and humid day.
Cetaceans too were widely distributed with 100 Striped Dolphin the most numerous supported by 3 False Killer Whale on the 10th. 50 Spinner Dolphin, single Risso’s Dolphin and a Bryde’s Whale were observed on the 11th and a spectacular 10,000 or more Flyingfish.
The 12th saw a continuation of similar birds in low number but but was choppy, cloudy and blighted by heavy afternoon rain briefly brightened by 20 Spinner Dolphin.
The 13th was over the Guinea Plateau where expectations were high for seabird and cetacean sightings but a strong headwind made viewing conditions awkward. Despite this a couple of large pods of Pantropical Spotted Dolphin came in close during the morning giving some superb views. At the same time as the dolphins were around us we also had the sighting of the day - two Atlantic Sailfish passed close down the port side.
Sadly, the afternoon didn’t live up to the hope with only a few Cory’s, Scopoli’s and Sooty Shearwater, Leach’s Storm-petrel, Bulwer’s Petrel and single Black Tern and Grey Phalarope.
Flyingfish were well represented during the day with seemingly new species for the cruise being photographed during the day. We have been seeing quite a few Portuguese Man o' War over the last couple of days with one or two passing close down the side of Bolette allowing for a photo or two.
The headwind continued through to the 14th and a mid-morning arrival in Dakar, Senegal, where the approaches were enlivened by a large number of Slender-billed Gull, Pink-backed Pelican, Lesser Crested Tern and a few West African Crested Tern, Audouin’s and Grey-headed gull and whilst moored large numbers of Yellow-billed Kite and smaller numbers of slighter Black kite.
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