The crew witnessed a few fascinating animal encounters this week. Underwater about 30 or 40 feet away, Lecomte saw a long grey figure which he thought was a shark. Fortunately, he noticed a spear-shape on the front of it and it turned out to be a swordfish.

One day there was a huge commotion in the water about 600 ft from the support craft Seeker. Birds were gathered around and as they moved closer they noticed a pod of whales. Crew member Maks jumped in the water and was wide-eyed when he found that he was able to experience a close encounter with a whale!

Three days later there were about a dozen dolphin playing all around the boat. Many of the crew members jumped in the water to get a closer look. Unfortunately, crew member Mark ended up with some nasty jellyfish stings on his shoulders and neck. Fortunately he needed only the minor medical attention of heated sea water followed by flour as first aid.

Last we heard from them, typhoon Wukong was heading into their area. They were forced to pack up operations and move to safer seas. They have GPS tagged the location and will return once the typhoon has left the region.