- Visions18
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Construction
- Node Installations Complete!
- Six on the Seafloor!
- New Segment 7
- Defining the SIA
- PN5A Successfully Deployed!
- PN 5A – Jointing Operations
- PN 5A Installation Continues
- On Site to Install PN5A
- Transit to Node 5A
- Port Call in Portland
- PN1D is Installed!
- Burial and Inspection Completed ...
- Humpbacks Visit
- Cable Burial Node PN1C
- Milestone: PN1C is Installed
- Photos of Final Inspection of P ...
- Another RSN Node is Born!
- Cable Burial Continues at Secon ...
- Second Node Installed!
- Splicing Node PN1B into Segment ...
- Recovering End of Segment 3
- Word for the Day: Persistence
- Major Milestone: First Node Ins ...
- Primary Node 1A Powered Up on D ...
- Recovering and Testing Cable Se ...
- OOI Primary Node Installation B ...
- Cable Installation Update
- Dolphins and Puffins and Molas, ...
- Day 51: Seabed Cable Lay Comple ...
- Dynamic Positioning
- Update on Cable Installation
- Completion of Segment 1 Burial
- Leaps and Bounds at the Shore S ...
- Segment 5 Installation Complete ...
- Laying Segment 5
- Bustling Shore Station
- At-Sea Installation Phases
- Installing the Land Cable
- TE SubCom Dependable Propulsion ...
- Divers at Work
- The Day After
- Second OOI Cable Landed
- Second Cable Landing Reschedule ...
- OOI Open House in Pacific City, ...
- The Cable has Landed!
- Last Grapnel Run Before Landing ...
- Preparing for the Cable Landing ...
- Seaplow 101
- Marine Mammal Observations
- Communicating with a Fishing Ve ...
- Cable Deployment Update
- Off Pacific City, Oregon
- Finished with First Segment
- Deploying Repeaters
- Start of First Cable Segment
- Leaving Astoria
- Meeting the Cable Ship in Astor ...
- Cable Laying Vessel Underway
- Photos of OOI Cable Loading
- Northern conduit installed
- Northern Conduit drilling compl ...
- Bubble test for the Southern Co ...
- Drilling of the Northern Condui ...
- Update on Drilling
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Humpbacks Visit
Monday, July 30, 2012
As part of the OOI team at sea for the primary node installation cruise, the job of the two Protected Species Visual Observers (PSVOs) is to ensure that no marine mammals are endangered by ship activities. PSVOs Patti Haase and Cheryl Cross report on what they have seen thus far.
The entire crew of the TE SubCom Dependable is standing in the sun out on deck, wearing life jackets and toting survival suits, just wrapping up a weekly drill. Suddenly we all hear a gigantic whooshing noise. We run to the port rail and look down on a 40' humpback whale surfacing, slow and stately, just feet from the ship. We watch in awe as a second whale slowly rises into view, breaks the surface with its long rostrum, and expels almost 1000 gallons of air out of its lungs with another huge WHOOOOOOSH. Much to the delight of the crew with a plethora of cameras, the two whales laze back and forth near the bow of the ship for nearly an hour.
We are the Protected Species Visual Observers onboard this cruise. Although we do this work for a living, we still get a charge from seeing these majestic creatures up close. Our job on board is to make sure no marine mammals are endangered by the activities of the ship. We keep a constant lookout for whales, dolphins, and pinnipeds. We record the species and how many are there, and alert the project managers if the animals come too close to the ship's operations. The ship's bridge wings, 21m above the water, provide a great unobstructed lookout platform from which we can see approximately 7 miles to the horizon. Thus far on this cruise we have seen humpbacks, fin whales, a sei whale, Risso's dolphins, Northern right whale dolphins, Dall's porpoises, a California sea lion, and lots and lots of Pacific white-sided dolphins, but nothing has been as spectacular as the two visiting humpbacks.
Patti Haase and Cheryl Cross
Protected Species Visual Observers