Friday, September 12, 2008

Shark Chronicles 027 – The “Cheetah” runs again


After being out of action due to engine problems, there was news that Cheetah (the other SAMPLA boat) was finally repaired and ready to hit the water again. This was the icing on the cake (following the return of Stephan), for the five newly arrived interns who had been eagerly awaiting their virgin trip on the more ‘luxurious’ of SAMPLA’s two boats. One-week old interns, Simone, Victoria and Beverly, together with Stef undertook the task of getting Cheetah clean and shiny for her re-launch. After some hard scrubbing and hose-spraying, Cheetah was good to go and the three lucky interns clambered aboard the vessel and experienced their first boat launch, as Cheetah was safely lowered into the harbour ready for duty.

The return of Cheetah was followed by “sharkiness” in abundance. It appeared the effects of last week’s storm had died down and the sharks were back in numbers to the bay. The morning’s chumming trip was a big success, with a tally of nine different sharks including a 4.5 metre mother of a shark, which was suspected to be a previously tagged shark known as “Big mama” (the star of Sharkville). In addition, the crew onboard were fortunate to witness a post-dawn predation event on a not so fortunate seal. Two breaches and some violent thrashing by the shark, followed by a pool of blood, just 50 metres off the stern of the boat, indicated that the predation had been a success.

Beverly and Alessandro (SAMPLA interns)

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