MARISSA MARINER - WHALE WATCHING BOAT CRUISE
Unfortunately for me I did not attend this last birding session of the trip becuase I had a little fall in my room a couple of days ago and I think I have cracked a couple of ribs, I am living on pain killers at the moment.
Dawn stayed behind to nurse me, how nice! So Tony, Jimmy, Peter and Anne left with Dammi our guide to catch the boat at 5:30am. Tony took a tumble down the stairs on the way out of the hotel and hurt his knee! (he really shouldn't be drinking at that time of the morning).
The trip was described as a little rough, Tony threw up (it must have been the pain from his knee and not sea-sickness, Ha!) and he missed most of the photographic opportunites, Jimmy and Anne 'fired' off thousands of shots. They Saw only one Blue Whale and several Bryde's Whales.
A Bryde's Whale taken by Anne Songhurst
Large groups of Spinner Dolphins passed by and one or two Bottle-nosed Dolphins were seen, all were a little too distant for photographs.
A Great Crested Tern - taken by Anne Songhurst
A Great Crested Tern was seen perched on a piece of wood, perhaps it was also whale-watching? Lesser Crested Terns, Whiskered and Little Terns were also seen. A few people also saw Green Turtles. If it wasn't for the turbulent conditions it would have gone down as a very good trip. Tony recovered by lunchtime, it didn't stop him from eating a large lunch.!
Spinner Dolphin - taken by Anne Songhurst
The rest of the day was spent relaxing around the hotel and beach area. Jimmy took a Tuk-Tuk ride to visit a temple. We ate dinner at 7:30pm and planned our start for the airport tomorrow morning. Our trip list finished on 230 species, we missed one of the emdemics but got all of the owls (9) we set out to see.