Beyond Frontier - 9. BF Chapter 9

“All three evicted students are off the vessel and in a taxi that the director had organised. He has arranged for them to be on the next flight back to Perth early this afternoon,” Jasper announced to me.

“Good, thanks for doing that for me. I was too angry to deal with those bastards on my own,” I responded.

“By the way, the director and Dr Reuben wish to speak to you, as soon as possible,” Jasper added. I stood up and headed down the stairs to the dining area where all of the guests were gathered. One student stood up when I appeared. “Sir, on behalf of all the students, we wish to apologise to you for the behavior of our former colleagues, and we hope that we will be able to work on your terrific research vessel with no further incidences,” the student said to me.

I was little surprised by the public apology, and it took me a few moments to come up with a reply. “Thank you for that. It is very much appreciated,” I said.

“Ok everyone, we will be leaving shortly. So, out onto the aft deck for some fresh air, and I will be out there shortly,” the director announced to the students who all headed outside, leaving me with just the director, Dr Reuben and Dr Lane. I sat down, as did the two doctors and the director. After a moment of silence, the director cleared his throat, “We have one thing that we haven’t told you, when we came on board, and showed you that letter, and after further discussions, we came to agreement, that we should go ahead with what was originally discussed, when we were planning this project.

“The Oceans Institute has a two-year contact with the state government to monitor all national park and reserves where commercial activities take place. The main areas that we will be looking at are the Montebello and Barrow Islands, the Abrolhos Islands and Rottnest Island. We have the funding to keep your research vessel busy for most of that time, if you would like to accept the offer,” the director said to me.

“Wow, that is amazing. I don’t know what to say, but, yes, I will accept,” I responded happily.

“There is one more thing. I won’t be able to participate in all of the project excursions, so with your educational background being in zoology and environmental science, we would like to appoint you as the projects co -director, along with Paul Lane, with Anna Reuben as the consulting director,” he announced to me, and the other two doctors were smiling broadly.

“Welcome to the team, Mr Co-director,” Paul said to me, as I sat there stunned.

Once I had recovered from the shock of the announcement, I smiled. “Well I guess we had better start with me getting up to speed with everything to do with the project. Maybe we should make one of the research offices into the Project Directors Office, so we have a place for planning and everything else,” I announced.

“That sounds like a good plan. Why don’t we do that right away, while we are travelling to the Montebello Islands, which will be our first stop today,” the Oceans Institute director suggested. We all stood up and went back to the research area. I opened up the portside research office, which I knew had the least amount of equipment in it. There were just four desktop computers, which had been secured to the side bench tables, two filing cabinets, and empty book shelves along the full length of the back wall.

“Yes, I think this will be perfect for our project office,” Anna Reuben said and Paul Lane nodded his head in agreement.

“I am glad that we are all happy with this. Now I will only be with you for three days, then I will need to come back to Exmouth, so I can fly back to Perth. I expect a weekly report to be emailed to me every Saturday morning, and I will send you some more supplies and equipment as required,” the director said to me.

“Well, I will go and let Jasper know what our destination is, so we can be on our way well before the media arrive,” I announced, and I headed upstairs to talk to Jasper. A few minutes later, soon after telling Jasper our destination, he made a PA announcement.

“Attention all crew. Prepare for immediate departure. Guests, please ensure that all your gear is stashed away ready for departure. That is all,” he announced. I sat in the spare seat and watched as Jasper started up the engines. Once the mooring ropes had been released, we set off northwards to the Montebello Islands.

“I have just been informed, that the Oceans Institute has a two-year contract with the state government to monitor all national park and reserves where commercial activities take place, and that we have been given the contract to provide the vessel and facilities to complete this task,” I announced to Jasper.

“Wow! That is awesome! At least it will keep this tub busy,” Jasper replied, and I just laughed.

“This puts me in a bit of a fix though. What to do about the catamaran, as my crew will be too busy on board here, to be able to do charters on the Frontier,” I said to the skipper.

“How about I arrange for it to be brought up onto dry dock, and into storage in the Jurien Bay yard,” Jasper suggested.

“Yes, I guess that is the best option… So about four hours to get to North West Island then?” I replied.

“Yes, boss,” Jasper said with a smile.

Heading back down to the research area, I found the office now had a number of boxes on the centre table, and the shelves were full of books, plus there was a scanner / printer, a whole stack of folders and topographical maps on the bench. “Wow, you two have been busy, and it’s just been twenty minutes,” I commented to Anna and Paul, as I sat down. For the next two hours we talked, and I looked at some of the files.

Needing a break and getting hungry, we headed to the dining area, where the students were all eating an early lunch. “When will we be getting to our destination, Mr Hamilton?” one of the students asked and I took a quick look at my watch.

“About two more hours, and it is North West Island, which is the most northern Island of the Montebello Island group,” I replied with a smile.

“We will be having a group meeting after lunch, to brief you all on what will be happening,” Paul added, as we sat down to have lunch.

Once I finished my lunch I headed up to the bridge to see Jasper. “One other thing, the Oceans Institute director has asked to be brought back to Exmouth in three days, so he can fly back to Perth. Would you and your crew like to fly back at the same time?” I asked.

“Yes, that would be good thanks. Anita has been getting a bit annoyed that I am spending so much time away from the family,” Jasper replied, and I nodded my head in understanding.

I picked up the Sat phone and called a travel agent in Exmouth, where I booked overnight accommodation for Jasper and his four crew members for three nights time, plus flights to Perth the following day. Once this was done, I headed downstairs to the dining area just in time for the research team meeting which I Paul and Anna led.

For the first three day’s we would be taking air, soil and water samples on most of the larger islands in the Montebello Island group, to get an idea of conditions on islands in the neighbourhood, before we started working on the 12 smaller islands that are around Barrow Island. Once the briefing was over, the students set off to different areas of the vessel, while Anna, Paul and I returned to our office where we talked some more. I mentioned that when the director returned to Exmouth that the temporary crew would also be leaving as well, leaving just the six-permanent crew remaining.

When we arrived at North West Island, the winds were starting to pick up a little, so Jasper went around the bottom of the island where there is a wide bay that has calmer waters, and we set anchor just twenty metres from the island’s southern beach. I had four anchors put into place in case the winds picked up any more, to reduce the risk of breaking free and damaging the surrounding reefs. Then the dinghy was placed in the water and secured to the back of the vessel.

By this time all of the research team had gathered on the aft deck. “Welcome to the Montebello Islands. We will be going onto this island in three groups of three and one group of two. We will be having a look at five breeds of terns, plus oystercatchers, sea eagles, curlews and ospreys, plus shark bay rats and hare wallabies,” Anna announced.

“Once we have had a good look around and have a feel for life on the island, you will be permitted to go for a swim. Just be aware that there is a lot of marine life out there that is poisonous or dangerous to us, namely the blue ring octopus, stone fish, Irukandji jelly fish, sea snakes, cone shells and sharks. So stay alert,” Paul added.

“You may also come across manta rays, dolphins, sea turtles, and dugongs, that are harmless and often inquisitive. Let them come up to you, but don’t interact with them. We are here to observe and document, so no attempts to touch any wildlife on or around the islands while on the project,” Anna concluded.

Using the dingy we ferried the research team to the island, and I had Jasper and Simon on watch, to make sure there were no sharks in the area while we were on the island and later, when the students were having a swim, as it was quite hot in the early afternoon. While they were swimming, I returned to the vessel and sat down on a chair on mid deck and watched them swimming and snorkelling.

“This will be an ideal place and time to test out our mini sub for the first time,” I said to Jasper when I saw him coming outside.

“I agree with you on that one. I know that it has room for 3 persons on board as well as remote control capabilities. Which will you be trying out first?” Jasper asked me.

“I think remote control. We just need to set up the satellite link between the sub and the control station in one of the research workshops. I will start on that tomorrow morning,” I replied.

For the rest of the day, I just relaxed, and I even gave the crew some time to go swimming and sunbathe, which they were pleased about. The next morning Mathew and I were up early, and we lowered the mini sub down from its secured place at the back of mid-deck to the aft of the main deck. We were working on getting the satellite connection up and running when the director arrived along with Anna.

“So, it is a mini submarine that I saw perched up on mid-deck. At first I thought it was a lifeboat, till I realised that it was a lot more complicated than that,” the director said to me.

“Yes, sir, it is. I managed to get this second hand one for a good price. I haven’t even tested it out yet, so I thought since we are in shallow waters, that it would be ideal to give it a go, once I get this stupid satellite guidance system working,” I responded.

“I may be just a paramedic, but I have always been good with things electronic. Let me have a go at it,” Mathew said to me quietly. So, I stepped back and let my boyfriend take charge. Twenty minutes later he announced that it was working, but we needed to check the control station to double check that it was all working. I suggested that we did that after breakfast.

“Mr Hamilton, what will the mini-sub be used for, which I noticed on the aft deck this morning?” one of the students asked me, and I turned to Mathew to answer that question.

“I will be taking control of that side of things. We have only had this for a short while and we have not had a chance to test it, so we will start by running a number of remote control tests. Then we will use it to take water samples at different depths, and record any marine life that we will see in the process,” Mathew replied confidently, and from under the table I squeezed his hand gently and smiled.

“Will anyone be going in the mini-sub at any time, Mr Banning?” another student asked.

“The simple answer to that is no, not at this point,” Mathew replied, as we continued to eat breakfast. After breakfast, with portable radios each, I was on the aft deck with the crane controls, while Mathew was in the control room, surrounded by all the research team, watching the big screen video link, as we lowered the mini-sub into the water.

Once I had detached the crane from the mini-sub, Mathew started up its battery powered engines, and we watched it slowly sink and move forward. As it did this I went inside to join the rest of the team, while most of the crew watched from outside on different decks. I could see that Mathew was enjoying having the controls to the mini-sub, as he took it down to a depth of five metres and a steady speed of 5 knots.

After about an hour of touring around the bay, Mathew guided the mini-sub back to the back of the vessel, and I brought the crane down to pick it up, and bring it back onto the aft of the vessel, where the deck hands tied it down. Once this was done, Jasper and I headed up to the bridge, while the deck hands lifted the anchors, and we moved to the next large island, that was just a little south east of where we were.

Once again, Jasper found a small bay, which protected the vessel from the strong winds, and we set four anchors again, to make sure the vessel remained secure. The dinghy was once again used to ferry the research team onto the island, and once again in four groups, they set off to explore the island. Again, the research students went for a swim afterwards, returning to the vessel once they had become hungry for some lunch, with the crew eating before they returned.

Once lunch was completed Anna, Paul and I went to the research office to have some more discussions about the next 13 days of work after the director and the extra crew had left. After our meeting, we called all of the students to the main research work room, and we informed them of the plans for the next two weeks of work that would begin as soon as we had called into Exmouth to drop off the director and some of my crew. At 1500 hours we raised the anchors and headed out of the Montebello Islands with our destination being Exmouth. We planned to arrive there sometime after dark, so we could slip in and out without being noticed.

We arrived just before 1900 hours. I said farewell to Jasper, Kirk, Leon, Alex and Toby, as well as to the UWA Oceans Institute director. Once they had stepped onto the wharf I took over at the helm, and we quietly cruised out of Exmouth, with our destination Boodie Island, just south of Barrow Island, which was 3 hours away. It was soon after 2200 hours when we arrived on the south-east corner of the island and set the anchors.