New Photos Online

Hello Everyone!

It's been ages since I've written last, and I'll be sure to update you all in the next couple of days. Just so you know I am back in Stevens Point and am enjoying the HOT Wisconsin summer. I've posted some photos from the past few weeks on my webshots site, so be sure and check that out. The stories that go with those photos will be up here soon!

Protecting the Galapagos

July 1

We left Santa Cruz 2 days ago with 7 new people on board. We had a pro surfer and his film crew, a New Yorker reporter and some Sea Shepherd office people join us in Puerto Ayora to go over to Isabella to see the mangrove destruction officially, but finding poachers was our main objective. Just after we left port we were chased by a speedboat and when they caught up with us we saw that they had two of our new crew members who had just arrived from LA on board. So after the two new crew, Shannon and Steven, were on board, we steamed on over to Isabella and dropped anchor outside Puerta Villamil. Last night we called a water taxi out and 7 of us went into the sleepy town for a few beers. Midnight rolled around fairly quickly and we had to get back so Pedro and I could be on watch.

The next day the national park director met us at the dock and took us for a tour around the island. He showed us the different types of forest (wet and dry), the giant tortoise breeding center and took us up to a vista overlooking the island and the port. When we got back to the ship, the main engines were started and we were underway again in no time. However, instead of heading directly towards Puerto Ayora, we headed west along the coast of Isabella.

We knew there were poachers that frequented the waters off the southern coast of Isabella for a number of reasons. They had been found there in the past, and when we were coming through the area a week ago, not only did we come across stray long line buoys but we also came across two poaching boats but were unable to catch them. Normally poachers will come in during the evening, lay down a line and then pull it back in again in the morning. With our guests and all of the media on board, it would be great to come across some illegal fishers so that people outside of the Galapagos could see what is going on in here. Pedro and I had watch from midnight until four am and the moon was nearly full. It was fairly bright outside, and although we were constantly looking for buoys, we had an uneventful watch and went to bed around 4:30 am.

At 8 am I awoke to hear people on deck yelling “Longline!” over and over again. I immediately jumped out of my bed and put on some pants and a crew shirt. I knocked on Pedro’s cabin door to wake him up in case he hadn’t heard the commotion already and then I headed up on deck. By the time I got there, the line was already being pulled in. Within a few minutes the first fish was found; a dead yellow fin tuna. The buoys that were keeping the line afloat were empty plastic containers and very basic. Every thirty meters or so a hook would be found and cut off before the line was pulled in. On most of the hooks were pieces of squid used as bait. Some hooks were empty: lucky free breakfast for someone. Alex yelled down to the deck crew to hurry and start pulling in faster because the fishing boat was spotted at the other end and they seemed to be pulling in the line from the other end. I could hardly believe the fisherman would be so audacious! They were blatantly in violation of the marine reserve laws which prohibit long line fishing within 40 kilometers of any island in the archipelago. We couldn’t let them collect any fish from that line and get away with it. What was most important to us at that time was getting the long line out of the water. If we could identify them as well, that would be fantastic so that they could be held responsible for their actions.

Conniss started making preparations to launch the zodiac to try and get close enough to identify the boat since they weren’t running away. I was invited to join the zodiac since I was the only Spanish speaker on the crew. At first it was Conniss driving the zodiac with Simeon filming, me on the radio and GPS and Raffi, the New Yorker reporter. Once we got the order, the zodiak was launched and we were speeding off across the waves towards the poachers small fishing boat. As we got closer we could see the poachers just standing still in their boat; it was as if they were waiting for us. They must have realized that we were heading straight for them and meant business, because when we were a few hundred meters away they laid down the throttle and headed away from the Farley at top speed. We were close behind and to our delight, they were not gaining on us at all. As they were fleeing, we saw them pulling out unattached lines and plastic jugs and throwing them overboard. No doubt they were trying to get rid of the evidence. At one point we went over the top of a line that they had thrown out and before we could stop, it had got caught in the propeller. We cut it loose as quickly as we could and marked the position of the discarded line on the GPS so that we could retrieve it later.

We were off again in pursuit of the poachers and we were gaining on them. The zodiac was pounding over the waves and we were doing all we could to hang on, stay in the boat and keep an eye on the poachers. I was also trying to juggle the radio and GPS and stay in contact with the bridge crew on the Farley. We got to be nearly 6 miles away from the ship, and were going to loose our line of sight to the Farley soon. At that point, we would need to turn around. What was really important was just to keep the poachers away from the long line so that we could pull it in and save any animals that may have already become entangled.

Alex had told me that if I were to speak to the poachers, I should only say that they were in violation of the fishing regulations of the Galapagos marine reserve and that they needed to stop their illegal activities. Although I was totally capable and willing of doing this, I saw no point in actually having contact with the poachers and I thought we would be much safer and happier in fact if we didn’t need to have a confrontation. As we got closer and closer, Simeon was filming so that we could identify the boat and the poachers once back in port and use the film as evidence. We got to be within 20 meters of their boat, and had lost sight of the Farley. There was no need to establish contact with the poachers, and so with the video evidence we needed I waved goodbye to the three men in their small boat and we turned back to the ship.

The rest of the morning and into the afternoon we were chasing around pulling in buoys, flags and the lines attached to them. From the zodiac we came across 5 dead yellow fin tuna. The freshly dead fish were absolutely beautiful and impressive in form. We came across a sea turtle as well which had somehow managed to find itself in the middle of a mess of lines and buoys and not get tangled up. We got close enough to the turtle to make it wary and after a few minutes it dove and swam away to safety. There was a manta ray that was not so lucky. It had somehow managed to have a hook pierce it’s back and peel a chunk of flesh away. The zodiac team was called in near the Farley to release the ray from the line. As we got close to it, I could see that the wound was quite deep and I could see different colors and types of tissue exposed. I got as close as I could to the ray and cut the line. I couldn’t get the hook out without causing more damage, so the hook and about 2 feet of line were left attached to the back of the ray. I was disgusted and saddened to see that beautiful animal hurt unnecessarily. Once the line was free, the ray glided down and away from us, no doubt extremely tired and stressed out from the ordeal. We can only hope that it is able to recover from the injuries and stress it endured.

Lines were being pulled in from both the Farley and the zodiac. As we were pulling in the thin nylon lines by hand, we were slowly being covered by dead fish tissues that coated the lines. The bottom of the zodiac quickly filled with lines and hooks. Pulling in the kilometers of lines was not at all easy from the zodiac. The Farley was using a winch to pull up and collect the lines but I was pulling in the lines and buoys by hand. The media guys who joined us in the zodiac were right in it with me cutting hooks off and pulling in lines. It was fantastic for them to be right in the action with us.

Everything went so smoothly and I am really happy with how everything unfolded yesterday. Although we don’t have the names of the individual poachers, we have their boat and their faces on film. We got to the lines fairly early and were able to pull in many hooks that were either completely empty or only containing bait. The deck team on the Farley pulled in around 15 yellow fin tuna, with most of them already dead. They also pulled in a couple of small rays, one alive and one dead. With every minute later that we could have pulled in the lines, there would have no doubt been more casualties. All in all we pulled 270 hooks out of the water yesterday; a few lives were lost, but at least 250 lives were spared which is undoubtedly a success. One really feels mixed emotions after an action like pulling in the long line. It is so good to be able to pull in that line, see the empty hooks and physically feel the positive work you are doing. It is also depressing and frustrating knowing that these lines are put out every day and every day they needlessly kill hundreds of innocent animals. One feels especially angry coming across these illegal lines in the Galapagos marine reserve which is supposed to be a marine protected area.

Once the lines were collected and everybody was back on board, we started steaming back to Puerto Ayora. Since we altered our original course and then stopped to collect the long lines, we would be returning back to port about 24 hours later than expected. No doubt the port authorities would be slightly upset with us since we were not authorized to go on any sort of patrol. Once back in port we will hand over all evidence of the incident to the national park, and hope that justice will be done. The poachers should be presented with a minimum $500 fine each if they are found and arrested. Justice seems to be a funny thing here in the Galapagos with money exchanging hands and crimes going unnoticed if the criminal has the right name. We can only hope that the national park is able to locate the poachers and that they are punished with a fine that is enough of a deterrent so that they won’t be repeat offenders. The Galapagos are an international treasure, an ecological jewel of sorts and it would be an unforgivable shame if fishermen are allowed to destroy it for temporary economic gains.

Protecting the Galapagos

July 1

We left Santa Cruz 2 days ago with 7 new people on board. We had a pro surfer and his film crew, a New Yorker reporter and some Sea Shepherd office people join us in Puerto Ayora to go over to Isabella to see the mangrove destruction officially, but finding poachers was our main objective. Just after we left port we were chased by a speedboat and when they caught up with us we saw that they had two of our new crew members who had just arrived from LA on board. So after the two new crew, Shannon and Steven, were on board, we steamed on over to Isabella and dropped anchor outside Puerta Villamil. Last night we called a water taxi out and 7 of us went into the sleepy town for a few beers. Midnight rolled around fairly quickly and we had to get back so Pedro and I could be on watch.

The next day the national park director met us at the dock and took us for a tour around the island. He showed us the different types of forest (wet and dry), the giant tortoise breeding center and took us up to a vista overlooking the island and the port. When we got back to the ship, the main engines were started and we were underway again in no time. However, instead of heading directly towards Puerto Ayora, we headed west along the coast of Isabella.

We knew there were poachers that frequented the waters off the southern coast of Isabella for a number of reasons. They had been found there in the past, and when we were coming through the area a week ago, not only did we come across stray long line buoys but we also came across two poaching boats but were unable to catch them. Normally poachers will come in during the evening, lay down a line and then pull it back in again in the morning. With our guests and all of the media on board, it would be great to come across some illegal fishers so that people outside of the Galapagos could see what is going on in here. Pedro and I had watch from midnight until four am and the moon was nearly full. It was fairly bright outside, and although we were constantly looking for buoys, we had an uneventful watch and went to bed around 4:30 am.

At 8 am I awoke to hear people on deck yelling “Longline!” over and over again. I immediately jumped out of my bed and put on some pants and a crew shirt. I knocked on Pedro’s cabin door to wake him up in case he hadn’t heard the commotion already and then I headed up on deck. By the time I got there, the line was already being pulled in. Within a few minutes the first fish was found; a dead yellow fin tuna. The buoys that were keeping the line afloat were empty plastic containers and very basic. Every thirty meters or so a hook would be found and cut off before the line was pulled in. On most of the hooks were pieces of squid used as bait. Some hooks were empty: lucky free breakfast for someone. Alex yelled down to the deck crew to hurry and start pulling in faster because the fishing boat was spotted at the other end and they seemed to be pulling in the line from the other end. I could hardly believe the fisherman would be so audacious! They were blatantly in violation of the marine reserve laws which prohibit long line fishing within 40 kilometers of any island in the archipelago. We couldn’t let them collect any fish from that line and get away with it. What was most important to us at that time was getting the long line out of the water. If we could identify them as well, that would be fantastic so that they could be held responsible for their actions.

Conniss started making preparations to launch the zodiac to try and get close enough to identify the boat since they weren’t running away. I was invited to join the zodiac since I was the only Spanish speaker on the crew. At first it was Conniss driving the zodiac with Simeon filming, me on the radio and GPS and Raffi, the New Yorker reporter. Once we got the order, the zodiak was launched and we were speeding off across the waves towards the poachers small fishing boat. As we got closer we could see the poachers just standing still in their boat; it was as if they were waiting for us. They must have realized that we were heading straight for them and meant business, because when we were a few hundred meters away they laid down the throttle and headed away from the Farley at top speed. We were close behind and to our delight, they were not gaining on us at all. As they were fleeing, we saw them pulling out unattached lines and plastic jugs and throwing them overboard. No doubt they were trying to get rid of the evidence. At one point we went over the top of a line that they had thrown out and before we could stop, it had got caught in the propeller. We cut it loose as quickly as we could and marked the position of the discarded line on the GPS so that we could retrieve it later.

We were off again in pursuit of the poachers and we were gaining on them. The zodiac was pounding over the waves and we were doing all we could to hang on, stay in the boat and keep an eye on the poachers. I was also trying to juggle the radio and GPS and stay in contact with the bridge crew on the Farley. We got to be nearly 6 miles away from the ship, and were going to loose our line of sight to the Farley soon. At that point, we would need to turn around. What was really important was just to keep the poachers away from the long line so that we could pull it in and save any animals that may have already become entangled.

Alex had told me that if I were to speak to the poachers, I should only say that they were in violation of the fishing regulations of the Galapagos marine reserve and that they needed to stop their illegal activities. Although I was totally capable and willing of doing this, I saw no point in actually having contact with the poachers and I thought we would be much safer and happier in fact if we didn’t need to have a confrontation. As we got closer and closer, Simeon was filming so that we could identify the boat and the poachers once back in port and use the film as evidence. We got to be within 20 meters of their boat, and had lost sight of the Farley. There was no need to establish contact with the poachers, and so with the video evidence we needed I waved goodbye to the three men in their small boat and we turned back to the ship.

The rest of the morning and into the afternoon we were chasing around pulling in buoys, flags and the lines attached to them. From the zodiac we came across 5 dead yellow fin tuna. The freshly dead fish were absolutely beautiful and impressive in form. We came across a sea turtle as well which had somehow managed to find itself in the middle of a mess of lines and buoys and not get tangled up. We got close enough to the turtle to make it wary and after a few minutes it dove and swam away to safety. There was a manta ray that was not so lucky. It had somehow managed to have a hook pierce it’s back and peel a chunk of flesh away. The zodiac team was called in near the Farley to release the ray from the line. As we got close to it, I could see that the wound was quite deep and I could see different colors and types of tissue exposed. I got as close as I could to the ray and cut the line. I couldn’t get the hook out without causing more damage, so the hook and about 2 feet of line were left attached to the back of the ray. I was disgusted and saddened to see that beautiful animal hurt unnecessarily. Once the line was free, the ray glided down and away from us, no doubt extremely tired and stressed out from the ordeal. We can only hope that it is able to recover from the injuries and stress it endured.

Lines were being pulled in from both the Farley and the zodiac. As we were pulling in the thin nylon lines by hand, we were slowly being covered by dead fish tissues that coated the lines. The bottom of the zodiac quickly filled with lines and hooks. Pulling in the kilometers of lines was not at all easy from the zodiac. The Farley was using a winch to pull up and collect the lines but I was pulling in the lines and buoys by hand. The media guys who joined us in the zodiac were right in it with me cutting hooks off and pulling in lines. It was fantastic for them to be right in the action with us.

Everything went so smoothly and I am really happy with how everything unfolded yesterday. Although we don’t have the names of the individual poachers, we have their boat and their faces on film. We got to the lines fairly early and were able to pull in many hooks that were either completely empty or only containing bait. The deck team on the Farley pulled in around 15 yellow fin tuna, with most of them already dead. They also pulled in a couple of small rays, one alive and one dead. With every minute later that we could have pulled in the lines, there would have no doubt been more casualties. All in all we pulled 270 hooks out of the water yesterday; a few lives were lost, but at least 250 lives were spared which is undoubtedly a success. One really feels mixed emotions after an action like pulling in the long line. It is so good to be able to pull in that line, see the empty hooks and physically feel the positive work you are doing. It is also depressing and frustrating knowing that these lines are put out every day and every day they needlessly kill hundreds of innocent animals. One feels especially angry coming across these illegal lines in the Galapagos marine reserve which is supposed to be a marine protected area.

Once the lines were collected and everybody was back on board, we started steaming back to Puerto Ayora. Since we altered our original course and then stopped to collect the long lines, we would be returning back to port about 24 hours later than expected. No doubt the port authorities would be slightly upset with us since we were not authorized to go on any sort of patrol. Once back in port we will hand over all evidence of the incident to the national park, and hope that justice will be done. The poachers should be presented with a minimum $500 fine each if they are found and arrested. Justice seems to be a funny thing here in the Galapagos with money exchanging hands and crimes going unnoticed if the criminal has the right name. We can only hope that the national park is able to locate the poachers and that they are punished with a fine that is enough of a deterrent so that they won’t be repeat offenders. The Galapagos are an international treasure, an ecological jewel of sorts and it would be an unforgivable shame if fishermen are allowed to destroy it for temporary economic gains.

Arriving in the Galapagos

We arrived in the Galapagos Islands this morning. I must admit, I hardly could imagine the day we would get here thinking back 2 weeks ago. We immediately came across some tourist dive boats, and then they directed our attention to a nearby national park patrol vessel…which was a bit of a disappointment to us really as we were hoping our presence would remain under wraps for at least a few days. But now it seems most likely that the navy will be notified of our presence, and now we are at their mercy to whether or not we can patrol for illegal fishing operations. We cruised past Wolf Island around 10:30 this morning and moved straight on to Darwin Island. When we got to Darwin, I was in charge of steering the ship on a path around the island up until the point a pod of dolphins started to bowride. Alex graciously relieved me of my duties and I ran up to the bow with the rest of the crew to watch the dolphins. I took quite a bit of footage of the dolphins and I’m hoping at least some of it turns out. It was amazing to see the dolphins cruising along at the bow. Some of them would occasionally roll over and look up at us all staring down at them. There were thousands of birds as well. While we were entranced with staring at the dolphins below, the birds were coming closer and closer over head. There were many times when a boobie was within 2 meters of us. I can’t get over the bravery, or maybe curiosity of these animals.

With an hour left of my watch, Alex stopped the ship and decided to start drifting. Since there wasn’t much to do in the bridge and he wanted to stay on watch anyways, he let me off to go swimming. Yesterday I went swimming as part of the equator iniation routine, and today I got to jump in as well. The water was so nice; warm, refreshing and amazingly blue. The only downfall was that there were quite a few jellyfish in the water and I got stung quite a few times. I hardly could care. It had been so long since I had been in the water swimming properly, and so long since I had really had any form of exercise, I loved every minute of it. Once I was too tired to stay in, I got out to dry off in the sun. Once I was dry and recovered, I realized just how still the ship was, and I had my first yoga session in over a month. I went up to the helideck with my yoga mat, and although the ship still rolled a bit and balancing asanas were a bit difficult, I was quite happy to move through a few sun salutations as the sun was setting. Dinner followed, with a few beers in the bosun’s locker (no drinking on deck since we’re in the park) and then I laid out enjoying the amazing night sky. The clouds were out, but hardly so and in between sips of the stars Julie and I could hear dolphins clicking near the ship. We never saw the dolphins, but we did see lots and lots of bioluminescence. It’s been a pretty magical day and I’m so happy to be here. It’s the first time in a long time that I can say that there is no place else I’d rather be right now.

Signs of Life

June 15

Today was a pretty amazing day as far as watches go. Some watches the most exciting thing that happens is that I leave the bridge to go down to the mess to make a cup of tea or coffee, but today was a different story. About half way through the watch, Pedro called me over to look out over the starboard side of the bow saying that there was an unusual green patch of water. Just as I was walking over to take a look at what he was seeing, a humpback whale surfaced on the side of the bow where the green patch of water had been, and dived below the ship. Immediately we slowed down the ship and notified the rest of the crew that there was a whale nearby. Whenever we see any unusual wildlife, and especially whales, the whole crew stops what they're doing and takes a look. We even have a buzzer system set up to notify crew working inside the ship when there are whales (1 buzz), other wildlife (2 buzzes) or illegal fishing lines (3 buzzes). Unfortunately the whale surfaced behind the ship quite a ways and I didn't see it again, but a few other people were able to watch it as continued in the opposite direction as us.

Then about 2 hours later we saw a group of small whales surfacing about 30 meters off the bow! There were 5-7 and they were quite small when compared to the first whale, but definitely bigger than dolphins. The group veered towards the side of the ship and then continued on moving off the starboard side for a couple of hundred meters at the surface before they dove and I didn't see them again. I'm still not quite sure what they were....

And if that wasn't enough, about 10 minutes later I saw a group of 5 birds circling about a hundred meters off the port side. They weren't soaring around as they normally do, so I thought something must be up. Sure enough, upon closer investigation I saw a shark fin circling around below them. It must have been feeding on something and the birds were hanging out for scraps. I wasn't able to tell what kind of shark it was, but it was still pretty exciting to see a shark!

That was the most wildlife I have ever seen on any of my watches since leaving Melbourne a month ago. It’s mind boggling to think about all of the animals that are living below the surface of the water which we never see. Even with whales and dolphins, we only get quick glimpses of them and that’s if we are lucky. There’s so much that we don’t understand yet about the marine environment and I can’t help but think about the impact that humans are having on these amazing ecosystems. As we get nearer to the Galapagos, I hope that we’ll see more wildlife and get a glimpse into the unique environment that surrounds the islands.

The weather has been great for the past week and the forecast for the next week looks like we’ll have calm seas and hopefully some sunny days. The mercury is definitely rising as we get closer to the equator and my plans to follow summer around the world seem to be working out!

Pitcairn Island!

I woke up this morning, knowing that it would be different from every other morning I have woken up to so far. I knew that we would be approaching Pitcairn island, and by lunch, I should definitely be able to see land on the horizon. Sure enough, when I went up to the bridge at noon for my watch there was a beautiful little green island on the horizon directly in front of us. As we got nearer and nearer the excitement in the bridge grew and grew. Alex contacted the locals over the radio a few hours before we arrived at our waypoint. We arranged to trade some food, coffee and fuel to the islanders in exchange for some of their famous fruit. We also found out that it would cost us $30 each if we wanted to go onto the island. There was little argument amongst the crew and the excitement grew even more when we knew that yes, we would be stepping foot unto solid land today! The ship drew nearer and nearer to the island and after a little while we could see a boat leaving the island headed towards the ship to come pick us up. We exchanged goods and then left the Farley and jumped on the long boats.

I may never forget the feeling of stepping foot onto solid ground for the first time. For the first 10 minutes or so, I felt quite off balance and even a bit sick. Land sickness! Who woulda thought?! We were told that we had an hour to stay on the island because it would be getting dark and it wouldn’t be safe to take us back to the Farley on the long boat once the sun had set. We decided not to waste any time and started up the dirt/concrete path up to the town center. We passed a small square where there was a church and post office, however we didn’t stop. I did peak into the window of the little general store; it was small and there wasn’t much inside. It looked more like a store that I would have set up with my friends in my basement when we were little kids to play with. There was a sign posted on the door with prices for a few different items; nothing too out of the ordinary in the inventory or prices. A local notice board was across the street from the general store; we took notice of the signs for “sea scouts-after school program for kids” and prisoner mail delivery directions.

We continued on towards the ‘eco walk.’ Sarah and I were so amazed to be seeing trees and flowers, and the silence! The peace and quietness of the island made us only talk in whispers for the first few minutes. It was sooo nice to be away from the constant hum of the engine. And the fresh, tropical smell! We stopped to say hello to a few locals as we were walking, but we really just wanted to cover as much ground as we could and to see the local scenery. A young English couple, Kat and Joe, met up and walked with us. They have been on the island for about a month now and Kat hopes to get some funding to do Humpback research using Pitcairn as a base. She’s thinking her research might help develop tourism on the island. Kat and Joe took us along the eco-track, and then up to Christian’s cave. In the cave we saw two beautiful nesting Tropics birds-I’ll have to look them up but they looked like white kingfishers, with orange beaks. In any case the birds weren’t too disturbed by us trekking into their caves as they didn’t leave their ground nests once while we were there. After a quick few breathes and a photo op in Christians’ cave we headed down the cliff face again, but in a different direction as it had started to rain and the rocks were a bit too slippery to traverse over. Joe led us through a tunnel which opened up into the forest which we had to make our own trail through to get back. By this time our hour was just about up and we had to head directly back to the dock for the long boats. We all were thinking that it wouldn’t be such a travesty if we happened to not make it back to the long boat before dark and we’d have to stay overnight but the thought of dealing with Alex afterwards was enough to make us all continue down to the longboats.

The whole time we were walking we were talking with Kat and Joe and asking them all sorts of questions. We were curious about island life: what happens in emergencies, where their supplies come from, how the locals live, what sorts of energy they use etc. etc. They were curious about the work that we do with Sea Shepherd and Kat specifically was interested in the research I did with whales as she is looking to get into humpback research around the Pacific Islands.

It turns out that:

the island is run off of diesel generators.

Kids leave when they are 16 for school and hopefully to find partners-sometimes they come back sometimes they don’t.

Almost every type of fruit and vegetable imaginable is grown on the island since there have never been restrictions on importing non-native plants

There are outside professionals employed by the island (police, doctor, social workers, teacher etc)

There are about 70 people living on the island

Pitcairn has the best communications technology in the South Pacific with satellite tv, high speed internet and cheap, reliable phone service

After a very quick hour on the island we gathered back at the long boats and headed back to our home on the Farley. It was sad to leave the land and I would have loved to have stayed there for a few days at least, but we’re not on this trip to tour around but rather get work done. Tomorrow we’ll circle Henderson Island looking for illegal drift nets and long lines to pull in and then be on our way to the Galapagos. I hope that everything goes as well in the Galapagos as they did today. When we got back to the ship, everyone was so pumped up and excited about our little adventure. Now it’s back to our shifts and routine life again.

Half Way There!

June 1, 2007

We’re officially past the half way point and today we passed over a volcano whose rim is supposedly 25 m below the surface. We were hoping to see some varied wildlife as we passed over the volcano, and we were expecting to come across some long lines as well. We did spot some buoys, but they were encrusted with barnacles and had no lines attached to them. Yesterday we spotted a buoy at sunset, Alex spotted one this afternoon and then I did as well. It is exciting coming across the buoys so that we can pull in the long line and save the lives of hundreds of animals, but unfortunately the buoys we found today had broken free from their original lines long ago and we didn’t have the chance to pull anything in. The weather should be fairly decent from here on out, so if we do come across a long line we should have no problems pulling it in. It would be so frustrating to come across a line in bad weather and not be able to stop the needless death and destruction that’s caused by irresponsible fishermen.

Pedro and I were lucky enough 2 days in a row this last week to see a moonlit rainbow during our midnight to 4 am watch. The moon has been beautifully full and bright and to our stern. With a little bit of rain ahead of us, we were able to see a faint glowing rainbow. The colors weren’t really well defined, but it was definitely there. We woke up some of the crew and made sure the engineers were able to see it. Mainly we just wanted to make sure that we weren’t seeing things.

We’ve been going through some biggish swells, and while I haven’t been sick in the slightest, the constant rolling of the ship has made sleeping difficult. I’ve resorted to stuffing pillows on both sides of me once I get into bed. The result is that I have to decide what position I want to sleep in straight away and can’t change without a bit of effort, but with the pillows I don’t slide back and forth across my bed all night. The Farley is known for the way she moves with a graceful roll, and I’m told that I will miss it when I leave.

Another interesting part of ship life I’ve recently been introduced to is our laundering facilities. Most of our washing is done in buckets by hand, but I had a few pairs of filthy jeans that needed more than just scrubbing. After a few well placed knots, my jeans were at the end of a line sailing overboard for a proper washing. After a few hours bobbing behind the ship they were ready to be pulled in and dried out. It’s a lovely way to do laundry if you ask me!

Only a few more days to Pitcairn, and then a few more weeks to the Galapagos after that. The latest word is that we’ll be spending at least a week in the Galapagos, which I think would be great as there are so many people that I need to meet and so many things I want to see there. However there really is no knowing where we’ll be or how long we’ll be there with Sea Shepherd. It’s been another beautiful day at sea and the full moon is golden and rising over the horizon. I’m going to tuck into the book I’m reading now (story of Kon Tiki- Trans-Pacific Norweigan raft expedition) and then take a quick nap before my watch at midnight.

Same old Same Old out at Sea

May 29, 2007

After 16 days of 8 hours worth of watches with Pedro it seems like we may have begun to run out of things to talk about and the last few shifts there has been more silence than chatter in the bridge. We are reading and discussing a book together, The Decent of Woman by Elaine Morgan and we are both really enjoying the process. It’s a great way to review what you’ve read and it’s interesting to hear someone else’s opinion regarding the content. We also fill the space of our watches by listening to audio books; right now we are listening to Jared Diamond’s Collapse. I have been wanting to read this book for about a year now, and now I finally have the time to get through it. It’s especially interesting to listen to this book now as it is discussing a number of islands near where we are sailing right now. If the weather goes alright, we may even stop on Pitcairn Island, which was a topic of discussion in the book.

The last few days, when not listening to or discussing books, I have been thinking about things back in Wisconsin. I have started to feel a bit homesick for my old bed, and my parent’s lovely house and backyard. I haven’t cooked for months now since joining the crew, and I’m really missing out on preparing meals in a proper kitchen. Luckily the weather has been okay the last two days, so I’ve been able to spend some time out on deck before and after my watch. It’s a bit difficult however because I usually sleep after my watch at 4 am till noon, then I have watch from noon till four and by the time I finish watch I have about an hour or less to be out on deck before it gets too dark/cold. So I have been thinking a lot about days spent wake boarding or playing on the boat. After hiking and camping around so much of Australia, I am looking forward to coming home and exploring a bit more of Northern Wisconsin and other scenic parts of the states.

Thinking about all of these things back in America has been making me think about what exactly I want to do with myself when I get back, and it seems like such a long time now until I will be back there. I have all sorts of things floating around in my head now (job, school, travel etc.) but first and foremost when I get back I just want to be able to spend some quality time catching up with the family and my friends whom some I haven’t seen in years now.

At the same time that America seems so far away in the future, my time spent in Australia seems quite distant as well. I was looking at some photos of my friends and I and it seems like such a long time ago. It’s really hard to think that I won’t see some of them for quite a long time; possibly never again. I suppose it makes sense that I’ve entered into this bizarre void in between continents seeing how I am in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Actually, we’re not quite in the middle yet, but we’ll be half way to the Galapagos in two days.

Rolling with the waves

I feel like I’m in the world’s biggest rocking chair. The Farley is famous for the way she rolls when she’s at sea, and her rolling has the most amazing ability to lull me to sleep. Luckily the movement of the ship has mainly only affected my ability to remain conscious for more than a few hours and it hasn’t affected my digestive ability in the same way as it has for some crew. Beth joked with me before I left that she wanted an update on my sea-sickness status, and I’m happy to report that it’s basically non-existant. We’ve been through two minor storms, and all my meals have maintained their intended course, which I’m quite proud of.

I am starting to feel a bit stir crazy and hope that the weather improves soon so that I can at least spend an hour or two before and after watch out on deck. I have no idea how people go out to sea for months at a time to work; I am beginning to wonder how I’m going to maintain my sanity on this ship for the next few weeks. I’m getting to know the others on the ship and we’re all getting along quite well which is nice. But this cabin fever I feel creeping in is way worse than any cabin fever I’ve had during Wisconsin winters.

On the bright side, I’m learning so much and am so glad to be here. I’m learning quite a bit about navigation and understanding how weather patterns affect the sea state. It’s amazing how the changes in weather on land can go completely unnoticed because out here, any change in the weather completely affects every aspect of our life. If a low pressure system is moving through, the winds pick up, the waves pick up and moving around the ship becomes quite like a dance party. I could never have told you when a low pressure system was moving through before I came on the ship. I’m also learning, or trying to learn, all sorts of useful knots. We have the most amazing knot books I have ever seen; there is no shortage of ropes to practice with, but my problem is that I’m working on the bridge 8 hours a day and don’t have a lot of free time to be out on deck using these knots. But, I’m not complaining, I definitely I have the best job on the ship.

Reasons why I have the best job on the ship:

I get to watch the waves go by along with the weather and wildlife.

Fresh air when the weather is good.

No diesel fumes or constant heat (As is in the engine room)

No hard labor exposed to the elements (As in the deck crew)

I don’t think I’d do so well in the galley as I’m sure motion sickness would interfere with any sort of culinary magic I’d like to stir up.

Every day at sea is quite like the day before and it’s quite likely that it’ll be identical to tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow we’ll find a long line to pull in. Probably not. I know we won’t see land for at least another week…so there’s not a whole lot to report on right now. Mainly I’m spending my free time watching movies with the crew and reading one of a few books I’m working on right now.

Setting Sail

Sunday, May 20.2007

We’re nearly a week into the campaign now and things here on the Farley Mowat are going really well. It was a bit sad leaving Melbourne, and saying goodbye to all of my friends but everything was so hectic and exciting before we left that the fact that I was actually leaving Australia didn’t really set in until we were out in the middle of Port Phillip Bay. The Tasman Sea is supposed to be some of the roughest waters in the world. Before we left, Paul Watson told me about how a hundred years ago, people were known to cross the Tasman to go to New Zealand, and never return to Australia again as they couldn’t face going across the Tasman again. Those weren’t exactly the most comforting words to hear before setting off on my first crossing, but so far things have been pretty smooth for us. We just barely nicked a storm a couple of days ago, and we had some choppy waters for a few days. Things on the ship were a bit shaken up, and I felt a bit ill, but nothing too bad. The sea sickness hasn’t quite caught up with me yet, and I am hoping it never does.

I’ve been learning so much on my watches with Pedro up in the bridge. Every day from noon till 4 pm and midnight till 4 am we are up there on watch. It is our job to monitor and track the ships position, and keep a watch for other shipping traffic, weather, wildlife and possible hazards. Being up in the bridge, I often see things that crew on deck or in the engine room don’t get to see. Here’s my tally of noteworthy sightings in the first week:

2 humpback whales (plus one unidentified whale)

20 dolphins

seals

penguins

lots and lots of albatross

other sea birds (petrels, terns, shearwaters)

bioluminescent algae at night

flying fish ( I thought they were small birds at first!)

One meteorite lighting up the whole night sky-possibly falling into the ocean

I really feel like I have the best job in the world right now.

Leaving Melbourne

It's Sunday night (technically Monday morning at this hour), and I'm on watch at the gang plank on the Robert Hunter again. It's nearly 1 am and I have three hours left to go on my last watch before the Farley leaves Melbourne. Tomorrow morning I am moving from the Robert Hunter into my cabin on the Farley, and then we will work on some last minute preparations on the Farley before our planned departure. Hopefully I will have time tomorrow to pick up a keyboard in the city; I have found out that a number of other crew members play piano, and we would all appreciate having a keyboard on the ship to help pass the time. We've been playing at the chapel at the local Seafarer's mission whenever we have a spare hour or two and it will be nice to still be able to play once we leave port.

Since finding out that the ship is finally leaving, things around the Docklands have been pretty hectic. There are so many last minute sorts of preparations, and little things to get into order. I have been helping to load supplies onto the ship, organize our food stores, learning navigation and doing general cleaning on the ship. I have hardly had time to contemplate the fact that I will be leaving Melbourne, and Australia in the next couple of days. Like I thought might happen, I said my third goodbye to Tristan and Gemma tonight. The rest of my final goodbyes will come later as some of my other friends will be coming down to say farewell to the ship as we leave the dock.

I'm feeling tired as I have been going pretty hard the last few weeks; working and catching up with my friends throughout Melbourne and Warrnambool. My last month here has made me realize how many people I have come to love and how much I am loved here in Australia. Because of this any time not working on the ship has been spent with my friends around Melbourne leaving me quite run down and exhausted. Hopefully once the ship leaves and I get on a set schedule, I can recover a bit so that it doesn't catch up with me in the form of illness. Besides looking forward to having fewer distractions once out at sea, I am just excited for the new experience of being out on open water.

I believe that this will be my final entry before we leave and I probably won't update this space for about 30 days or so. I will keep an electronic journal so that when I do update it, there will be plenty for you to read about.

Wrapping things up in Melbourne

It’s nearly midnight on Wednesday, and I am sitting on deck of the Robert Hunter on security watch. I am wrapped up in a blanket and am so glad to have my Sea Shepherd crew issue beanie to keep my head warm as winter is moving into the Docklands here in Melbourne and with it comes the wind. Tristan called me not too long ago to wish me bon voyage and say his last goodbye to me before I set sail. Unfortunately our departure date has been delayed and I’ll probably say goodbye to Tristan at least once more, but I reckon it could be more. I’ve already said goodbye to Thea twice as I thought I would have left a week or so ago originally. This last Saturday Beth organized a bit of a going away party for me which was so sweet. I’ve never had someone else plan a party for me ( at least not since I was 6) and it was so great to have my friends from different places all get together and go out. We had a few drinks and topped the night off with a few hours of dancing followed by a long walk home…soo much fun!

So I’m just on the tail end of another 16 hour day; between security watches and helping to install the electronics on the Farley, I’ve had at least one super long day every week for the past few weeks. The long hours would bother some people I suppose, especially since there is no fantastic financial compensation (just food and accommodation), but I am so glad to be here working on the ship. Even after working for hours today measuring voltages of different cables, picking apart the electronics of the autopilot, just to find out we had to start all over again, I remembered that the work I am doing is important and it does make a difference.

The whole crew is getting restless. Everyone is ready to get out to sea and start the campaign. Pedro and I mapped out the voyage today, and it looks like it will take about 60 days to get to where we’re going…past the direct opposite side of the globe. Those 60 days aren’t taking into account any time staying in port along the way. And I haven’t even spent a single night at sea yet, and now I’m going out for months. Ha Ha, never a dull moment for me.

I still can’t believe all of the amazing things I’ve done during the past 2 years. When I talked to Nathan the other day, I told him I was setting off to see the world, and he said, “Isn’t that what you’ve been doing the past 2 years?” and I he is right, I have been traveling and exploring during the past 2 years, but who says I have a limit to how much time I can have exploring before I have to return to a certain place. Who knows, maybe there is a limit and I haven’t found it yet, or maybe I’m just ignoring that limit, but I don’t think so. I think I am just starting off and I have a lot that I want to do. Places I want to see, people I want to meet, foods I want to taste and emotional roller coasters to ride.

My watch is nearly over and I’m looking forward to retreating to my cabin for the evening. Pedro says sleep loss is cumulative and I’m not doing a very good job catching up on what I missed out on Saturday night. Melbourne seems to have fallen asleep with just a few taxis cruising by the ship and a few drunks stumbling along the footpaths on their ways to who knows where. Life has become a bit surreal; the reality of my present situation is still sinking in. I still feel giddy with excitement when thinking about the Sea Shepherd and our upcoming campaign. It’s good to be alive and doing what I love.