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The Science Longline Fishing Campaign Report Ship Log & Webcast Last Year |
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Ship Log: Heard Island
26 February - 3 March February 26, Saturday The weather is still rough. We spotted a potential pirate fishing vessle on the radar and proceed to investigate. It later proved to be a false alarm, so we returned to our previous course. In the afternoon I typed up this diary. Having had very little sleep due to the endless rolling, I feel quite wasted and retire early - perhaps tonight I will sleep? 27 February, Sunday By late afternoon, Big Ben, the main volcanic peak of Heard Island became visible on the horizon, towering up out of the sea like an enormous snow-covered blancmange. We witnessed a glorious sunset to starboard! The scene at Heard is so primeval - with “pterodactyls“ (the larger albatrosses) soaring around - that its very easy to imagine “a land that time forgot". Except for the cold! Night watch from 0200 ‘til 0400. 28 February, Monday We went ashore at the ANARE Base at Atlas Cove and were greeted by throngs of curious King Penguins demanding to check our passports and visas. These birds are obviously the ruling bureaucracy on the island. The other penguin species are nowhere near as domineering. We proceeded to walk from there around the rather badly-named Walrus Beach, up over the outskirts of the “Nullarbor Plain“ and down to West Beach. The shifting pebbles on the beach made the hour walk quite an exertion. Despite the cold, under my waterproofs, fleecies & thermals, I soon became a sweaty mess! As for wildlife, the elephant seals just lie around, occasionally belching, while the fur seals do get a bit agro (editor's note: 'aggressive') if you inadvertently approach too closely. The Antarctic terns are busy fishing - hovering momentatily and then plunging into the waves, surfacing almost immediately to repeat the performance. There are even leopard seals, second only in size to the elephant seals, sometimes looking reptilian and sometimes almost like gigantic otters with flippers. Fortunately they too seem completly relaxed - as if they’ve just eaten, as well they might! All over West Beach the numerous remains of “shredded penguin“ attest to the leopard seal’s primary prey. The skuas are more than grateful to pick at the remains! The skuas themselves are another island identity: massive brown birds about the size of an eagle. Their ancestors long ago gave up the more generalistic lifstyle of the gulls and turned to a much more rapacious lifestyle, filling the ecological niche normally occupied by true raptors (hawks, vultures etc.) elsewhere. Quite fearless, they are more than willing to attack should we get to close to their eggs. No sooner does one put a bag down than a skua will alight and start to peck at it, in hopes of devouring the contents. Upon arrival at West Beach the Debris Team did its “thing“ - finding and collecting fishing tackle, bottles and all manner of man-made rubbish washed up on the shoreline! We also encountered fur seals - though cute, they definitely have teeth and are not to be approached too closely! Gentoo penguins, smaller than the Kings, are apparently the record holders of the penguin clan, being the fastest swimmers and the deepest divers. Though curious they didn't approach as closely as the Kings. We climbed around some rocks at the end of the beach in a search for more debris and instead came across a small group of rockhopper penguins. These were definitely not sociable towards us, huddling amongst the rocks shaking their crests in dismay, like some weird tribe of neurotic old men! They were accompanied by two sheathbills, plump white birds about the size of a chicken, but with a skua’s predilection for other birds eggs. After cleaning up West Beach we decided to try to reach South West Beach, an hour's walk over the ”Nullarbor Plain." This plain, surrounded by high peaks and glaciers, is quite bare and somewhat reminiscent of the plains of Mars. It is mostly composed of soft volcanic dust and sand, and thus easy for petrels to dig their nest burrows. We had to be very careful as in places the surface is quite unstable - a sudden cave-in could easily break an ankle, or an egg at the right time of year! When we finally reached South West Bay we were greeted by a magnificent sight - rolling breakers thundering in from the Southern Ocean, their crests tugged by the ferocious winds into huge clouds of spray - “the salt sea snaps at the shore“ sort of thing, or “surf’s up “ to be more contemporary! Just beneath us a kelp-encrusted promonitory stretched out to sea, the calmer water at it base, so blue, clear and clean I was tempted to go for a swim. Alas it’s a wee bit nippy for that!! We received word via the radios that the weather was worsening so we had to return to Atlas Cove promptly or risk being marooned! So back across the Nullarbor we trudged, the wind now in our faces, our back-packs getting heavier by the second – almost like “Sands of the Sahara “ except for the temperature! Fortunately we made it back to the Base Camp in time and returned to
the Arctic Sunrise just as the waves began to rise making transfer from
the inflatables to the ship somewhat challenging. I finished the day completly
exhausted by all the excersise, but very happy to have seen all that wonderful
wildlife!! February 29, Tuesday March 1, Wednesday I painted the other galley port hole and the top coat on the Bjorn cement mixer [the food mixer!] and despite the rolling I still didn’t spill any paint – luck, I guess! The rumour at dinner was that the weather forecast predicts moderation - however nothing about our progress lends credence to this wild notion! As I’m now on the 4AM to 8AM night watch I retire to bed just after dinner, though first I REALLY MUST have a shower. The combination of soap, hot-water and 40 degree rolls makes bungy jumping look soft! Think I’ll give shaving a miss though! March 2, Thursday In the afternoon I was given the enthralling task of sorting out a box of washers someone had dropped, the contents of which were now completly muddled. This was quite maddening, the ship rolling and washers rolling, some in metric, some in Imperial measurment. It’s the sort of thing only a Virgo could enjoy - up to a point! I now loath washers!! March 3, Friday During the night I observed some sort of bioluminescence in the sea - random flashes of light. I had thought these were limited to tropical waters. First birds of the day: wandering and black-browed albatross, southern and northern giant petrels, soft-plummaged petrel, prion (whale-bird), Wilson’s storm petrel and, of course, white-chinned petrels. One of the latter was being harried by a skua. The aggressor forced it to land on the water before flapping off to annoy something else! Also saw more common diving petrels and several rafts of seaweed, no doubt torn loose by storms. During the day I spied a sperm whale. It raised its flukes before disappearing. Another probable sperm whale was also seen as well as some dolphins which, from the description, may have been hourglass dolphins. The hourglass is a small very beautiful species native to these waters with a vivid black and white pattern on its sides like an hourglass. In the evening I retouched the paint on the Bjorn Varimix “atom-smasher”. So massive is this brute, that even though it was well secured, it still managed to snap a hook to which it had been lashed during one night’s stormy pitching. Now finally relocated in the galley, and bolted down, I put the final touches on the damaged paint work. Check out more stories about life on board |
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