Today was my last day on the Sanco Swift, the seismic survey vessel I have been working on off the coast of Colombia for the past 3.5 weeks, (a relatively short survey!) as PAM (passive acoustic monitor). This was my first job working strictly nights conducting acoustic watches from sunset to sunrise. Normally, myself and another PAM operator will split both visual and acoustic watches working either from noon to midnight or midnight to noon but this time we had two marine mammal observers (MMOs) working the daytime hours and then I worked all night hours, which amounted to approximately 11 hours of listening on the hydrophone per night!
Strictly working nights was quite a change for me as I spent most of my time sitting at the computer with the headphones on; something I found a bit difficult as I am not usually a fan of sitting at the computer for such long stretches at a time! To be sure I didn't start to feel too sluggish by this inactivity during my work hourse, I made a point of waking up early most days (2 pm in the afternoon!) to go to the gym and/or swim in the pool on deck and relax in the sun. Additionally, whenever I could grab a free moment while on watch I made a habit to go to the heli-deck and lie under the stars watching for meteor showers and learning constellations. It was pretty spectacular stargazing and I learned a lot of new constellations!
Despite my dislike of sitting at the computer so many hours a night, I still learned new things about the PAM equipment and software (every job is different so there's always opportunity to learn something new each time), and I feel this was an opportunity to expand on my skills with a different twist to the work.
After completing the job we started transiting back to Cartagena arriving today where I disembarked the vessel to start my short 10 day holiday of diving and surfing and birding before I fly home for Christmas. Of course, during these last hours on the vessel I made sure to sit out on deck and keep a keen eye out for any marine wildlife. Due to the nature of my work this time, this was the first job I didn't see a single marine mammal! Although we had no marine mammals on this final journey to port, I did have some observations of Brown boobies (Sula leucogaster) and a couple of yellow-headed caracara (Milvago chimachima) including this one sitting on the rail of the ship.
Strictly working nights was quite a change for me as I spent most of my time sitting at the computer with the headphones on; something I found a bit difficult as I am not usually a fan of sitting at the computer for such long stretches at a time! To be sure I didn't start to feel too sluggish by this inactivity during my work hourse, I made a point of waking up early most days (2 pm in the afternoon!) to go to the gym and/or swim in the pool on deck and relax in the sun. Additionally, whenever I could grab a free moment while on watch I made a habit to go to the heli-deck and lie under the stars watching for meteor showers and learning constellations. It was pretty spectacular stargazing and I learned a lot of new constellations!
Despite my dislike of sitting at the computer so many hours a night, I still learned new things about the PAM equipment and software (every job is different so there's always opportunity to learn something new each time), and I feel this was an opportunity to expand on my skills with a different twist to the work.
After completing the job we started transiting back to Cartagena arriving today where I disembarked the vessel to start my short 10 day holiday of diving and surfing and birding before I fly home for Christmas. Of course, during these last hours on the vessel I made sure to sit out on deck and keep a keen eye out for any marine wildlife. Due to the nature of my work this time, this was the first job I didn't see a single marine mammal! Although we had no marine mammals on this final journey to port, I did have some observations of Brown boobies (Sula leucogaster) and a couple of yellow-headed caracara (Milvago chimachima) including this one sitting on the rail of the ship.
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| yellow-headed caracara (Milvago chimachima) |
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| My favourite spot to spend my afternoons after going to the gym and before starting my watch :) |
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| My home for the past 3.5 weeks |
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| Team PAM/MMO! |
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| Immature brown booby (Sula leucogaster) |
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| Juvenile brown booby (Sula leucogaster) |
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| Yellow-headed caracara (Milvago chimachima) flying past the ship |
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| Looking past the heli-deck to Cartagena coming into view |
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| Cartagena |
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| Cartagena |
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| This yellow-headed caracara (Milvago chimachima) landed on the ship to rest for a while |
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| yellow-headed caracara (Milvago chimachima) |
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| yellow-headed caracara (Milvago chimachima) |
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| yellow-headed caracara (Milvago chimachima) |
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| yellow-headed caracara (Milvago chimachima) |
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| Virgin of Carmen statue in Cartagena harbour |
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| Brown pelican (Pelicanus occidentalis) |
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