Day 3 Fly away Peter, fly away Paul: Chantelle Cook

This morning we got a very quick glimpse of two adults and a baby humpback, as well as a few dolphins—one off the bow and the others we saw playing underneath the boat on the underwater cameras. Compared to the plethora of data we collected yesterday, today sightings were scarce, both for mammals and bird life. Eric, however, did manage to capture some good images of the crested tern.

We looked at the biological indicators available from the ship’s data systems such as fluorescence levels, oxygen levels, salinity, temperature and depth and toyed with some hypotheses, none of which gave us any solid reasoning for why there were so few birds today!

The quiet afternoon gave us a chance to catch up on paperwork, as well as test the online meeting system for school link ups happening later on in the voyage.

Despite the slow pace of the animal sightings today we were treated to stunning views of the Queensland coast line including Tweed Heads, Gold Coast and Stradbroke Island.