Cruise Blog by Frances Cooke: Day 12
July 18th, 2021
Text and photo: Frances Cooke (PhD Candidate in the Gas Hydrates and Free Gas Reservoirs research group at CAGE, working within the SEAMSTRESS project).
This morning we successfully recovered the last two OBS. It was a relief to have them all back onboard! Shortly afterwards, we left Knipovich ridge and started our two day journey back to Tromsø. On the way, we will stop at a study site called Bellsund, we presume named after Bellsund fjord, situated on the west coast of Svalbard. The site is actually much further south from Bellsund. It is opposite the Hornsund fjord. Here we will shoot two final seismic lines for our Italian colleagues.
After half an hour in the fresh sea air, watching the birds flying around the ship, I spotted a feeding frenzy. From a distance, it looks like the water is bubbling. Dolphins surface, one after the other, and dive back down into the water. The birds hover above, waiting for the scraps. After their feed, the dolphins could not resist coming towards the ship to play in the waves beneath the bow.
Dolphins playing beneath the bow of the ship
Read more about the SEAMSTRESS project here.
