Seismic missadventures with PGS Explorer
November 4, 2006
Once again - mitigating impact of seismic surveying vessels on marine mammals and turtles
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Colleagues. My whale watchin buddies - Mik and Ronin - posing while we are doing a fire drill on top deck1
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Hard Hat. This moment had to be captured for posterity2
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Poser. Mi amigo Ronan - just too damn cool for school...
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Gasmask. In all seriousness - these had expired, so we were allowed to practice on them. They still worked well - its just that they have to2
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Helicrash.
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Workboat Sunset. Justa perfect opprtunity for a shot - when the workboat was out2
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Crew change. I shall be heading back to civilization on this vessel
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Growth. The hair is slowly but surely growing back
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Refueling. Today we refueled at sea - a rather delicate and complex business!
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Profile.
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Room after storm. Yep - I woke up this morning to find everything on the floor! - Silly old me i forgot to stow everything away before the b
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Bow wave. Anothe day - another storm!
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More of the same. Yep -the only nice thing about these days - is that I get the day off!
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Jump Suit. Standard procedure if a fart is detected in the bridge...
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Red Nose. Well - even in the gulf of Mexico it can get chilly with a northerly wind - My nose seems to take most of the brunt though...
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My Abode. Yes folks - the red circle indicates the position of my penthouse suite on the starboard (right) side of the Ocean Explorer
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Wispy Clouds.
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Masked Booby. Not something you'd see unless you are a couple hundred miles from land - they have at least a 4ft wingspan - very graceful fl
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Immature Masked Booby. What makes these guys so impressive, is that they are increadible divers. I watched for an hour as this guy repeatedl
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Ominoustower.
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Bridge. This is my other office - in the foregorund is Vladdo - the Slovakian 2nd Officer - and in the background is Mike - my fellow whale
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Humidrainbow.
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Newstorm.
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Humidsunset.
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Filipino hatchet job. Yeah... I ask the guy for a wee trim - and tell him to use the largest comb guard on the clippers. The first swipe, he2
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Transfer. In the age of technology - the way a guy is transferred from one boat to another is still via a rope ladder!
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Sunsetray.
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Sunburst.
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Mesunset.1
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Sunsetspil.
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Hot_ocean_ass.1
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Close Up Gull. This guy was hovering about 5m from me
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Mammal Life. Some of the less savoury aspects of being on watch on the helideck is that one must endure sights such as these...2
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Ruf. This guy looks how I feel in the mornins...1
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Ruby Crowned Kinglet. THis fella (tis male) flew down right next to me when on watch4
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Ruby on Yellow. A riot of colour...2
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Office View. My evening office view - with all my essential bits of equipment: My shortwave radio for BBC Worldservice, my UHF radio, my not1
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Dove on the Ropes. This guy just keeps following me around!
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New Dawn. This was the sunrise after that epic storm on wednesday and thursday - spectacular!
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Sunset with Compadre. Another epic sunset , with my colleage, Ronan partly in the way...
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Drenched. 15-20ft seas and 50mph winds with 60mph gusts. I braved the bridge outer rail to take this shot, and paid for it by getting drench
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Getting Rougher. This was taken by my colleague, Ronan, a few hours after my picture. Its even rougher now!
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Rainbow. Never seen a low arch rainbow like this. Shot was taken just a couple seconds before the storm hit
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God Ray. Just a cool ray of light - the calm before the storm. Half an hour after I took this picture, it was 45mph winds with rain and ligh
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Where the hell are we?. The cold front has just hit, with 45mph winds and hard rain. Our visibility has gone down to less than 100m - no wha
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Another chopper. Second landing the following day - I just couldn't resist another shot. The picture doesn't do justice to the feeling of ha
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Crab. A little fuzzy I know, but seriously, how in the hell did this little fella end up on the bridge deck??!!1
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Holy crane. I was just minding my own business, looking for whales, when this photo op presented itself
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White Winged Dove. Couln't pass up this opportunity - it was only 2m away!
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Sikorsky Chopper. This is the crew change chopper that I'll be boarding sometime around Dec 18th. It comes once every 5 weeks.
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Nimbus Rainbow. If you look closely, you can just make out a rainbow in the middle of this cummulo nimbus cloud
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Dark n Stormy. 0615 in the morning I start watch and see this evil looking front heading towards us. 20 minutes later and the wind is 30kts1
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Personnel Transfer. 2 guys had to be moved from our ship to another ship to get on a helicopter. even in relatively light seas, you can see
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Sea Bedouin. Forgot to bring a hat!
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Big Sky. I'll get used to these in a couple weeks!
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Vans. Where ever I go, the Vans go.1
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My Office. With all the downsides to this job, the view is definately a perk3
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Man Overboard Drill. They throw a mannekin overboard and then sound the alarm. We stand around while these guys shoot off in the jet boat to
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A bird in the hand.... A Ruby Crowned Kinglet flew into the palm of my colleague while we were on watch - just long enough so I could get th3
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Mr Hanky. This is the inside view from my toilet - an inspired notice!
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Evenin watch. Yes, I know, its sad - that I had to take this picture myself!1
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Groggy. A winter plumage Laughing Gull - lookin a wee bit sleepy - much like the photographer!1
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Bow. What can i say - its the bow...
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Exploration Rig. A typical sight out here in the Gulf of Mexico - an exploration rig that was about 7kim off our Portside
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Helideck from Port Stern. That really says it all - the helideck lookin forwards from the arse end of the boat. This will ultimately be my o
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Right half of new cabin. With this room, I get new and improved porn on the walls - to celebrate my status!
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Portside Lifeboat. Just so you guys know that there are means for me to escape in times of emergency!
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Topsy Turvey. In the foreground is the Falcon Explorer, a sister ship to mine - and behind it is the Ramform Viking - a beast shaped like cr
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Left half of new cabin. Nice!
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Segway Hot Rod. In the midst of 10000 harcore bikers, this brave soul proudly cruised the streets in defiance!
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Ocean Explorer stern. What can I say - she has an ugly ass!
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Lounge. My entertainment home for the next 6 weeks - yay.
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Ocean Explorer. My home, my office and my recreation until the 18th of December
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My Cabin Window. Ah! My penthouse suite view...at no extra cost either! I can see you all drooling with envy.
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Bikes. More than 10,000 bikes down the strand at Galveston - makes Cocoa Beach look like child's play
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Cabin. My deluxe accommodation - note the tasteful calender permanently bolted to the left wall!1
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