Mondrino Part 4

Text: Anneke Polenski

For the past 10 years we have visited Tarifa through firmm to observe the whales and dolphins in the Strait of Gibraltar. Many beautiful, touching and instructive moments we have experienced with these animals on our whale watching tours on the firmm-boats.

But this day was extraordinary and promised to be of a special quality. During this tour there was a moment which I’ll never forget for the rest of my life. A moment in which the Sperm whale Mondrino did something unforgettable and even as laypersons we had the sensation that something extraordinary was about to happen.

But first things first.

The first time we saw Mondrino was in 2008, and his name at that time was still Pigmento. Back then, my husband was able to make beautiful pictures from her ascents and emersions. On the pictures we could see the white patches on her back nicely which gave her the name Pigmento.

But during this day in June for the first time we couldn’t see her at all on our morning trip. Katharina Heyer had seen her the day before, so we returned to the same region on Thursday, 09.06.11, where she appeared with her two children.

Even before the departure we were relieved when we got the message that Mondrino with her two calves were again here: Mondrino was fine and her two calves as well. She hadn´t been seen throughout the whole season and no other Sperm whales as well, so we were already worried, because the sea is full of dangers for these animals and especially their young.

Tensely we left the port the next morning. But it happened to be a Zero-Trip. Not a single animal showed up. But even then we returned happily. I was sure that she was there.

Because of the zero-trip we were invited by firmm to go on another tour during the afternoon. Luckily we decided to participate, even if we had just left the boat tired and normally preferred spending a relaxed afternoon on the beach.

The afternoon’s trip started with a poetically clouded sky. Around the sun we could see a rainbow which was easily visible from the shady part of the boat.

About 15:45 the first dolphins appeared. They swam out towards the Atlantic. We followed them parallel to their path. About 16:00 the biologist Jörn informed us from his look-out that he had seen the blow of a Sperm whale. Indeed, directly near the Whale-Watching-boat of the competition. Then we were informed that there were even three whales. Jörn guessed that it was Mondrino.

From the bow we could hardly see anything. Again and again whitecaps blurred our shaky perception. Suddenly out of nothing a small second boat appeared, a high seas fishing ship, and approached the three whales with speed, showing no effort to slow down. We held our breaths. Jörn, the biologist, stayed calm and with serious voice he said that he would not take part in this race and therefore wouldn´t go any nearer. And that the animals were already under enough pressure. He advised the captain to stop the propeller.

He commented that the whales would dive and that would be it which seemed to become true. Apparently. Because afterwards the situation changed as following – I can’t reconstruct it more precisely anymore – that the mother Sperm whale appeared between the two boats while we could see the calves bow side from us. Evidently the big whale very intelligently drew all the attention on herself and this way drawing it away from the young whales. The calves were separated from her then, but very quickly surrounded by dolphins.

Calves

Shocked and helpless we followed the happenings around Mondrino, maybe around 300 meters away from us: The mother whale was still located between the two boats. None of the boats gave her more space. Then suddenly she disappeared and after short time reappeared near us swimming directly in the direction of the firmm-boat. Again we held our breaths. What will happen now? Where to look first: to the calves bow side or at the approaching whale mother who had reached the rear of our boat now? I decided to go to the back side of the boat to see Mondrino. I only saw her bent hump emerging from the water, already very near the boat.

Mondrino

Afterwards, for a short moment we could see nothing, no plunging fluke. I thought that she was diving under the boat towards her children. From above, a voice said that she hadn’t dived down yet, that she was still here. There was a big question mark in my mind: What was about to happen?

And then this unbelievable moment.

Mondrino, like a spyhopping Pilot whale, stretched her head vertically out of the water. The time seemed to stop. This look, this unbelievable and direct contact with her, a Sperm whale, produced a feeling of timelessness, total astonishment and emotion in me which couldn’t be expressed by words anymore. No thinking any more, just holding my breath, perception and existence. It was just for a few seconds but they were intense. We don’t have the chance to look face to face with a whale. Only afterwards I thought: What was she doing and how did she do this?

She must have been vertically in the water. Sperm whales can be in a vertical position in the water, headfirst and with the fluke above while diving. But this?

And certainly I was not the only person to wonder: Why in this stressful situation she didn’t swim directly to her calves and why she went so straight to the firmm-boat? I had a strong suspicion that the answer was that she knew the firmm-boat and considered it to be harmless. Is it possible that those Sperm whales who seem to be so dull can be as agile as the smaller Pilot whales? Or is it just something typical for Mondrino?

She must have felt herself and especially her young in danger. I was impressed by her intelligence!

A short addition beside:

Only when we were back did we find out that the smaller boat which was contributing to the animals´ stress wasn’t a boat full of ignorant passengers, but belonged to a team of scientists going out to take samples of the whale’s skin, among other useful data.

When I heard that, once more I was disgusted because coming from specialists we would expect that they have a minimal of knowledge regarding the adequate handling of these animals, especially involving young ones, and the scientists in this situation behaved like hunters or egoistic safari guides, and not like whale watchers. To be a scientist unfortunately doesn’t always mean one behaves ethically.