July 30, 2014
During my night watch taking our good ship past Port Hedland, I reflected on all the good things of yesterday. We spent the morning travelling towards and past the Dampier Archipelago noting humpback whale sightings and totally remembering all the wonderful times in this beautiful remote region of the Pilbara. Folks and landscape dominated our fond recollections, including life-time friends John and Lynn, Chris and Katie and Leon and Linley. It feels like it was only yesterday, that Curt and I traipsed our way across the tidal flats on Enderby Island carrying camera cases and gerricans after long days with whales. Relaxing at the shack we made dinner, wrote up the days notes’ and collapsed into deep sleep under the stars, enjoying the comforts of the 5-star-rusitic CALM (now DPAW) Research Station. It was indeed 5-star. We had running water – we just had to run it up the beach!
Skipper is so happy to have dolphins accompanying Whale Song!
In the afternoon, while I drove slowly through the Dampier shipping anchorage Curt, Daffy and Carrie commissioned the towed array listening system. The array was deployed, streaming 400m behind Whale Song. Let the listening begin! Curt twiddled and dialled multiple knobs on an instrument on our bookshelf receiving the data from the foredeck where the array was attached aboard while Daffy and Carrie checked the signal on the Ishmael software system in the wheelhouse. Pretty soon, after a couple of hours, the live songs of humpback whales were booming through the stereo system of Whale Songs’ main salon. Whale Song is alive with whale song again!
I truly love all the aspects of our life at-sea. Especially, the fresh fish we are sometimes able to catch along the way. Not one, but two fish successfully brought on deck before 815 in the morning was an extremely good start to our day! One, a mackerel-shaped fish with unusual green spots (alarmingly not represented in the fish id-guide) was deemed by the bemused crew to perhaps hail from Lake Springfield! That’s a long way away! A recognisable mackerel with thin lovely stripes, a narrow-barred Spanish mackerel one of our favourites, was the other prize on the lure. I could taste the firm flesh melting in my mouth while Curt expertly filleted it and presented me with two huge boxes of yummy fish to carefully store in the fridge. At 1130 I muttered, ‘Oh, I’ll just go down and fry some fish for lunch’. With the pan-fried aromas drifting up the stairs into the wheelhouse, Carrie was nicely surprised! She had thought I was joking! No – fresh fish is our most favourite food. Pan-fried in real butter with juicy lemon and lashings of cracked black pepper, the mackerel went down well in sandwiches or with salad and rice… yum!
Restys’ fish dinner, Fish three ways – battered, baked and battered with Restys’ super special sauce! Hmm!
As we motored over the horizon away from Dampier last night towards the next town up the coast, Resty prepared delicious green fish curry for dinner. You can feel the goodness going in. Fish is such good food value, excellent protein and high in Omega-3 oils. Mackerel is on the menu again tonight, this time baked and battered with Restys’ super special sauce, (he could tell us, but he would have to kill us!), bowls of steamed rice and baked potato. We will be fighting fit for our exciting adventures in the Kimberley!
This afternoon, a second pod of dolphins came by to the bow for a very brief visit, but indeed long enough for Skipper to satisfy his desire to see and bark at dolphins! Several hundred photos later, you can see the smile on his face as these three strong, offshore bottlenose dolphins leapt, twisted and rolled on the bow! Skipper was thrilled to bits and his face showed his sheer delight!
Thanks Eighty Mile Beach for the dolphins!
Mich
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