December ' 09 to January '10 Random stuff from life on the Harrier Explorer

Here are some photos from random events in daily life on the Harrier Explorer during seismic surveying offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. The  pictures show: bunkering (taking on fuel) procedures, a tern another MMO found on the helipad after we had some stormy weather, some rough seas, views from the helideck, receiving a delivery from another ship's workboat and firefighting drills to prepare for helicopter transfers. Enjoy!

The crew preparing to receive the tow and bunkering lines

The bunker ship comes ahead of us and releases a tow line back to our ship

Now the crew tries to recover the tow line to bring onboard and attach to one of our big ship's bollards

 Bringing the tow line on board

 The bunker ship

 Bringing the bunkering nozzle onboard

 Unfortunately the first time the nozzle was brought on board the line it was being winched onboard with snapped and then there was some trouble getting the nozzle over the cleat the second time

 ...but it finally got over!

 Attaching the bunkering hose

 On watch in the bridge

 The Ramform Viking in some not so nice seas!

Poor tern!

 Workboat coming to pick up a delivery from us to go to another ship

 View to the bridge from the helideck

 View astern from the helideck

Sending a delivery to the workboat

Ocean Explorer having a close pass with a rig

 And the rig looks like it's on the Oceans' helideck!

Crew on the helideck practicing fire drills for crew transfer day

Christmas and New Years Eve 2009/2010 on the Harrier Explorer

This was my first Christmas and New Years Eve at sea; we had the most amazing sunrise on Christmas day and the moon the morning of New Years Eve was also great!

The following 8 photos show the sunrise on Christmas morning. The rest of Christmas day was mostly a normal working day at sea with us MMOs doing our watch rotations. The galley crew did a great job decorating the mess room and we even had a Christmas tree. Christmas dinner was quite the spread and the galley cooked up: a whole pig, roast, ribs, salmon, crab, prawns, ham and calamari. Unfortunately for those of us who were more inclined to veggies there was very little selection but at least there were mashed potatoes! Of course there was lots of dessert too with loads of chocolate, cakes and Christmas pudding! Not too bad for my first Christmas at sea!

 

On New Years Eve we had a large meal which was similar to Christmas. Unfortunately for me it was quite a meat laden meal again but there was lots of chocolate to make up for it! On New Years Eve morning the moon was beautiful and although I got some pictures they don't nearly show how amazing it was. We also had a lovely sunrise but it was nothing like the sunrise on Christmas morning.

January 25, 2010 T30s and T172 in the Strait of Juan De Fuca

Late this morning I was puttering around my apartment when I decided I should head to the Victoria waterfront for an hour or so to see if I could spot any killer whales (Orcinus orca) in the Strait of Juan De Fuca. Just as I was getting ready to head out the door I received a call from my fellow whale-nerd friend, Mark, to see if I would like to meet him for coffee or lunch. So I bailed out on the waterfront search and we made plans to meet.  Fifteen minutes later he called to tell me he had decided to have a little scan along the waterfront before coming to meet me and, sure enough, spotted a group of killer whales off the Victoria waterfront. Our lunch plans quickly turned into plans for a boat ride to go photo-ID a group of killer whales. The weather was perfect...calm and slightly coudy. Mark coordinated with our shore-based 'crows nest' spotter, Gordon Rowles, to keep an eye on the animals while he went to grab his trailered boat.

Half an hour later we were headed south in the Strait of Juan De Fuca cruising over the smooth but slightly lumpy swell, a remnant from last nights winds, with Gordon guiding us via VHF radio to where he could still see the killer whales heading south in the strait. After a 30 - 45 minute drive we spotted the distant blows on the horizon and were caught up with the group of killer whales. Mark spends a lot of time tracking the 'Transient' mammal-eating ecotype of killer whales and he instantly recognized the group of animals as the T30 matriline which includes T30, a female born at least in 1967, T30A, 24 year old male, T30B, a 17 year old female and T30C, a five year old juvenile. Initially we thought there were only the four animals but Mark and I soon realized that there was another female in the group; T172 a 21 year old female.

It was a nice encounter but they were definitely all business; they travelled quickly on a south and westbound track over to the American side of the Strait of Juan De Fuca. At times it was a bit tricky to keep up with them as they did the typical Transient zig-zag behaviour. It was a great day on the water and just what I needed after a nice, but fairly marine mammal-free, five weeks working in the Gulf of Mexico!

T30A the 24 year old son of T30

Above 2 photos: T30A (24 years old) and T30C (5 years old)

T172 the 21 year old female who as travelling with the T30s

Above 2 photos: T30A with shipping traffic passing in the distance

T30 (the ~43 year old matriarch of the T30s), T172 and T30C

T172, T30A and T30 travelling quickly in a tight group

T172, T30A and T30

Head on shot of two females

T30A you can see how his dorsal fin curls a little to the left (as viewed from behind) at the top

T30A

T30B

T172, T30 and probably T30B

T30, T30B, T30C and T30A (you can just see the melon of T172 behind T30A)

Related Links

Center for Whale Research killer whale fact page

Orca Sightings Network Transient page

Canadian Department of Fisheries and Ocean Transient ID guide

Note: all the photos during todays encounter were taken using a 300 mm Nikon D70 and under scientific research permit