You Calling Me A Flatback?

I’m currently sitting on the bridge of the Taurus 2, a cutter dredge that is stopped at the moment. They are stopped because the Griffin is docked to our port side and is using their deck crane to unload material off the foredeck of this vessel. There’s no need for an MMO when the dredging stops so I’m kicking back and tacking in the scene with a cup of coffee. Yesterday from the Baldur (scoop dredge I think they’re called) I spotted a few Wilson’s storm petrels flying about, small dark birds related to albatross which have a distinctive white patch on their rump. So I’m keeping an eye out for their presence, even though I should be resting my eyes. I’ll be stationed on the Taurus until the end of the week. They’ve been doing cyclone drills for the past 4 days and are now back on the job.

The Taurus is an interesting dredge. It has a massive drill bit essentially that extends via a big arm off the front of the vessel (or is it the stern I can’t tell), which can be lowered onto the seafloor. It pivots in an about a 60 degree arc back and forth off a spud on the stern of the vessel. The drill bit breaks up the hard material as it moves along. This particular cutter dredge does not suck up any material, its purpose is to loosen the seafloor for another dredge to come along and clear the way. Due to the nature of the operation, the vessel shakes quite a bit. I’m glad I get transferred back to the Finnmarken to sleep, otherwise sleep probably wouldn’t happen.

 

I’ve been seeing loads of Flatback Turtles, some of them mating, along with several sightings of Green Turtles. I was sure if I was identifying them correctly at first; however after reviewing the photos I’m pretty confident the majority are flatbacks. I also spotted 3 Dugongs from the Baldur yesterday, my first sighting of this relative of the manatee. I didn’t get any photos so you’ll have to look up what they look like. Apparently this is only the second confirmed sighting of Dugongs throughout the whole project. There have been some shearwaters about but they haven’t come close enough to ID, but I’m sure they are probably just Wedge Tailed.

3 days down…28 more to go.