One of the best parts about working offshore is the incredible sightings and encounters our members have with marine fauna. As the 2025 field season is in full swing, we thought it would be interesting to hear from the Executive Committee as they recount interesting and exciting encounters they’ve had throughout their careers.
Mike Ambler
Perhaps the most memorable sighting I have had occurred in November 2016 whilst working on a project offshore Mauritania. We knew that we were working in an area where blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) could occur, but the sighting that took place that day was still a surprise and mind-blowing. Just before the sighting, I had been photographing a brown booby (Sula leucogaster) that was flying just above the bow of the vessel. Suddenly, I heard the most powerful exhalation I’ve ever heard and looked to the side to see that an adult blue whale had surfaced next to the vessel, no more than 30 metres (m) away. I’d already got my camera in hand and switched on, from photographing the brown booby - so instantly started snapping. I radioed the instrument room, and soon there was a flurry of people coming up to have a look. The whale stayed close to the vessel for over an hour, offering many crew members a very memorable encounter.
Justin Judge
It was a calm Spring day on the shores of Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland, in 2020. I was wrapping up a shore-based watch for a hydro-power project and getting ready to head home. As with all of us observers, we never really switch off watch mode, and that day it paid off. I happened to cast one final look out to sea and sighted two large, black dorsal fins cruising down the Lough. My first killer whale (Orcinus orca) sighting! And not just any killer whales, it was the famed duo John Coe and Aquarius! The last two individuals of the Scottish West Coast population. To say I was starstruck is an understatement. No matter how many years I have been on watch, I still have the same level of excitement, not knowing what will show up. That day will stand out for me as a big one.
Christian Daniell
One particular sighting I will never forget was in 2017 when I was working at the Cape Eleuthera Institute in the Bahamas. I was assisting a researcher there working on sampling benthic organisms at depths of over 1000 m. While travelling to a survey site in a panga, we noticed a few dorsal fins breaking the surface of the water and decided to stop the vessel until they left the area. The researcher said that she had seen pilot whales (Globicephala melas) there before, and they would approach the boat out of curiosity. Upon stopping, we heard the distinctive sound of the blow approaching the boat; however, as soon as I saw the animals approaching us I realised they weren't pilot whales. They were lighter in colour, proportioned differently and most distinctively had prominent rostrums - they were a pod of beaked whales! Beaked whales are very poorly studied and rarely seen by people, so to have a small pod of them approaching our small boat was an incredible treat. They circled the boat a couple times, then as quickly as they came were gone- no doubt to forage deep below us in the Exuma Sound, Bahamas Islands. While I never got a good enough view to be sure, consulting with field guides and published sightings in the area led me to conclude they were most likely Gervais' beaked whales (Mesoplodon europaeus). Naturally, I spent the rest of the day jumping for joy with the rest of the team, and to this day, I will never forget the time these rarely seen whales decided to come say ‘Hi!’.
Carolyn Barton
One of the more notable sightings that sticks in my mind was when I was working on a seismic vessel in the Rockall Trough, Scotland, UK. It was a fantastic area to be in and a real privilege to see so many fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus). The bird life was exceptional too, with grey phalaropes (Phalaropus fulicarius), Sabine’s gull (Xema sabini) and great shearwater (Ardenna gravis), to name but a few. One day, I saw the fin of a lone cetacean heading towards the vessel during a line change. Not expecting anything out of the ordinary, I watched for it to surface again – and when it did, there was an unmistakable elongated beak poking out of the water at an angle. A beaked whale, almost certainly a Sowerby’s beaked whale (Mesoplodon bidens), although I would have liked it to hang around a little longer to get a better look to confirm my identification. The fisheries representative would have liked it to hang around longer too – he was frustrated when he came back from lunch to find he had missed its brief appearance. One of my all-time favourite sightings was of Atlantic white-sided dolphins (Lagenorhynchus acutus), I think probably somewhere to the west of Shetland. Two of the group jumped out of the water in a high leap towards each other, crossed over in mid-air and re-entered the water with perfect synchronicity, illuminated by the evening sunlight. Every day behaviour for them, over in a split second, but for me, a moment of perfection that I can still picture many years later.
Morgane Belleville
There are a few sightings I would love to describe, but if I have to pick one, that will be the one that I had the chance to share with my husband. It was his very first time he had ever encountered a big cetacean. Beyond the excitement of seeing a wonderful sea creature, sharing it with those you love makes the experience even more unforgettable. It happened last year. We were sailing from Martinique to Dominica in the Caribbean. There was no wind, the temperature was very hot, and the sea surface was almost glassy. No sails out then. The engine was turned on and we were progressing at 5 knots.
I was feeling sleepy with the movement of the boat and went to lie down for a nap. Suddenly, I heard my husband's voice waking me up: “I think a dolphin is coming in our way, you should check this out”. In 1 second, I grabbed my camera and jumped outside, looking for that dolphin, when I suddenly froze. There was no dolphin, but instead a beautiful young sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) was coming directly in our direction at a good pace. His back colour was brownish and he must have been around 6 meters long. Half the size of our sailing boat. He must have been very curious as he was approaching our bow with determination. As I was shouting (literally), the engine was immediately put to neutral while the sperm whale was still approaching straight to us. At his closest approach, maybe 20 m from our vessel, he suddenly changed course and left our position. As we were following him with our eyes, we suddenly noticed a big blow far away. There was another animal, and this one was way bigger, the mother, maybe. Both sperm whales joined together far from our position this time. It was almost difficult to spot them. We just had time to catch a few blows and for a few seconds, a beautiful fluke came out of the water before both of them disappeared from our sight. In the meantime, I launched a hydrophone and we continued to make this experience last (acoustically this time) a bit more.
Morgana Alvarenga
Two of my favourite sightings at sea were moments I'll never forget. One happened during a day of bad weather, the weather was off the charts, Beaufort scale and it was terrible visibility. Suddenly, this Minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) started breaching right at the bow, so close that it felt like we could reach out and touch it. Minkes are my favourites because you never know what to expect. They can seem boring one moment, and the next, they're full of crazy energy. I love how they launch themselves like little torpedoes or push the water with their heads. They are simply the cutest whales. Another unforgettable moment was capturing a humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) calf that had just been born in the warm waters of Brazil. Even though the photo is not perfectly framed or lit, nothing compares to the feeling of photographing that little body completely out of the water. Just looking at the size of its head and tail compared to the mother’s body is pure love!
While these are our stories, we would love to hear yours! With the decades of experience MMOA members have accumulated we have no doubt you have some stories, and we'd love to hear them! Email us at
