I worked as crew aboard the yacht Balaena on her eighth research trip in the Chile 2000 series.  We sailed out of Antofagasta, Chile for just less than three weeks, criss-crossing the ocean following sperm whales.  We collected photo-id shots of their flukes, skin and feces samples, sound recordings and I even got to take some digital video footage!
This voyage is part of the Ph.D. research of Luke Rendell, our captain.

Our crew consisted of 5 students: 3 canadians and 2 chileans, respectively:
Luke Rendell (Captain), Leah Lewis, me, Francisco Viddi and Cristian Peralta.
We had extraordinary cetacean sightings, including dusky dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obscurus), southern right whale dolphins (Lissodelphis peronii), bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.), short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus), sei whales (Balaenoptera borealis) and nine straight days (and nights!) with sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus).
 
 

Balaena from the crow's nest                                                      Short-finned pilot whale
 

Dusky Dolphins
 

Southern Rightwhale Dolphin and Dusky Dolphins
 

Sperm whales as seen from the crow's nest
 

    
Moonrise in Mejillones Bay                                                    Tatio Geysers
 
 

Pirate Day!