Unforgettable episode in my life

Do you miss me? I miss you so much! I would like to share an unusual and exciting thing with you.

 On Monday evening (17 November 2014), Yuki and I wore the graduation gown for taking photos after finishing the boat survey. We did take a lot of photos to track our wonderful moment.

 

Unexpectedly, a piece of amusing thing happened on me. It is interesting that a strong wind blew my graduation hat away at sea. Thanks Mrs Ng (our boatman’s wife) for picking my hat up from the sea and washing it. Was it big joke! Haha….  Also, I would like to say thanks for Heyman who were taking those funny photos for me at such straight moment. Without a doubt, it would be an impressive and unforgettable episode in my life. I hope all my friends (including you) would have a smiling face when seeing my pictures below.

 

 

                     Mrs Ng (our boatman’s wife) is picking up my university hat and washing it

 

What a joyful week!

What a joyful week!

I would like to pick some pieces in this week to share with you all. On Tuesday (4 November 2014), Perry, Yuki, Heyman and I conducted boat surveys at Northeastern and Northwestern of Lantau Island. At the very beginning, we got much fun and excited as Mrs. Ng caught a dying Flathead mullet in the nearby pier of Sham Tseng (Ma Wan Pier). Look! Such fish was around a double of the length of my hand. Most pleasantly, Mrs. Ng and her husband could have one more delicious dish for their dinner. Ha…Ha…..

Photos above show how lucky we are today (4 November 2014)

Luck did appear within two days!  We conducted land-based survey at Tai O on Wednesday so as to examine the impacts of dolphin-watching and fishing activities. The advantage of this survey method is to collect information on undisturbed behaviors of Chinese White Dolphins. How happy we were! 

There were 9 groups of dolphins we could observe at this station that day. When an individual dolphin or group of dolphins was located via the theodolite, and focal follow methods were then used to track the dolphins. A focal individual was selected within a group for further tracking its behavior and movement. We also recorded the detailed information about the selected individual or group every 5 minutes including the group size, behavioral state data (i.e.resting, milling, traveling, feeding and socializing) until the dolphins were lost from the view. It is another type of experience to watch such lovely pink dolphins without any disturbances. 

The scenery at Tai O is good and you can enjoy the seafood restaurants and the traditional salted fish, shrimp paste and storefronts at Tai O. I highly recommend all of you to have a relax trip at Tai O with your family and friends at weekends.

   Heyman and I tasted the yummy steamed buns at the end of our survey

Chinese White Dolphins are touching me

Journal at HKDCS - Chinese White Dolphins are touching me

Hi, everyone. Let you have my brief introduction. My name is Chan Tze Wing (Friends always call me Wingwing).I was born and brought up in a remote village in Yuen Long of the New Territories of the city.  I am a new intern at HKDCS. To be honest, I did not have a complete science background but I enjoy getting intimate with nature. It explains why I got my bachelor degree is “Environmental Policy Studies” at City University of Hong Kong.

This is not an ideal attitude for a policy maker if he / she does not have full experience on conservation. It will look like as a Chinese saying like ‘fight only on paper’. Fortunately, Samuel is providing me a golden opportunity to have practical environmental conservation experience. It does help me put the theory into practice. .

In the following weekly journal, I would like to share my valuable internship experience with you.

Do you observe any features about this following figure?

This picture is taken on 30^th October 2014

Look twice. The pink dolphin mother is bringing up her baby until the calf is able to fend itself. When we are the babies, our mothers express their selfless love and care to us onwards. The highest and holiest love does not only exist in humankind, but also in the lovely dolphins. The mother dolphins rise to the water surface to breathe for 20 to 30 seconds and then they will dive into deep water again. A baby dolphin goes up to the water surface twice as much as an adult because calves have smaller lung capacities than adults. Adult dolphins can stay underwater for about 2 to 8 minutes, but a calf cannot stay underwater for more than 4 minutes. What a beautiful picture! The divine role of motherhood is a gift from God. 

I’ll be back!

Hi everyone, it’s me again~ It has been some time since I updated my last blog. Time flies and I have already completed my internship with HKDCS. I had a really good time with all the full time and interns in the past two month, and of course, with the lovely dolphins!

The past two month is probably my most substantial summer I have ever had. Though it is a little bit demanding physically, I am so glad and want to thank Samuel for giving me this amazing opportunity to join the HKDCS family. I could still recall how excited I was when I saw HKDCS on the list of internship companies provided by my school. I have dreamt of and wanted to work with marine animals so badly as I am really found of them, and here came my chance!

I would never forget what I have done and learnt in the past two months. We had created so many good memories together and I really enjoyed the surveys. Both boat and land based surveys provide me a rough idea of how marine animals related surveys are conducted as the principle behind should be similar. Being involved in part of the survey gives me a chance to find out whether I want to be in part of this industry or not in the future, which I was really confused about. No one knows what will happen in the future but experience I gained this summer would definitely influence my decision to be made.

I definitely will, and already am, missing the lovely staff and interns. I am a very shy person which doesn't like to express much about my feelings. Yet, I am really thankful to have you all (both staff and interns) accompanying me this summer. Really love you all and look forward to seeing you in December!

Love ya <3

Bertha

P.S I am already missing the dolphins (crycry)

A lovely photo of the four interns ;)

Farewell dinner yumyumyum

A farewell to everyone.

HELLO all! It's been so long since I last wrote my first post in this blog. And now, here I am writing my last post in the departures hall at the Hong Kong International Airport while waiting for my flight to England - it’s time to bid farewell.

I could remember how excited I was on the flight back to Hong Kong almost three months ago because I knew I was finally able to see the Chinese white dolphins myself. However, little did I know that this summer was going to be much more interesting than that. Not only have I broaden my knowledge and gained work experience, I have earned myself some new friends, who are all lovely and unique in their own ways. I had the most amazing time in the past two months working as an intern in the HKDCS this summer. I remember the days when we worked late into the nights during the campaign. The games we played and the hilarious punishments we carried out afterwards. The precious moments when we shared the excitement of seeing dolphins leaping out of the water. The 這不是春卷 (“this-is-not” spring roll)(?) from the restaurant where we got our weighing scale for free and the refreshing beancurd pudding we had every time after doing land-based surveys. The surprise birthday cake and the time when we took loads of selfies (shameless!) on the boat after work. There are so much more to remember but these are the memories and people that I will forever hold dear to my heart wherever I am and whatever I will become. Lastly I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who made this experience so unforgettable and meaningful. I have to thank Perry, Viena and Yuki especially for spending so much time helping me out with my questionnaire design and for reassuring me, when I had my occasional panic attacks because of my final year project. If it wasn’t for their generous advice and support, I wouldn’t have been able to carry out my questionnaires in such a rush. I also owe my most sincere gratitude to Samuel who accepted me into HKDCS and made this all happen in the very first place. There are so much more I would like to say and I regret not being able to say thanks to every single one of the staff and interns personally. Last but not least, it's time to board the plane and I wish everyone the best of luck and success. Keep it up with the fight for the dolphins!

Lots of kisses and hugs,

Natalie

The real Perry (?)

One of the best parts of doing boat surveys

busy traffic at sea

construction of the HKZHM bridge at West Lantau

before the first ACE meeting on the third airport runway

me at the book fair - having the best of time

It's not the end!

Time really flies and here it is, the completion of my summer internship with HKDCS. It seems that luck is on my side as my last land and boat surveys were both days that weather might have been an issue, but it turned out to be both good days with dolphin sightings! I saw CH34 aka Ropey aka 大麻绳! If you don't already know the story of this dolphin please have a read of the article that Taison wrote (http://3rwdolphin-eng.weebly.com/30-dolphin-victim-stories/ropey) !

It has been an amazing time with wonderful people and I only wish I had more time with everyone and the dolphins. I want to thank Samuel for giving me this amazing opportunity as well as the rest of the staff interns for everything I have learnt. Everyone brings their own unique character to the HKDCS / HKCRP family. Perry asked me recently if I am worried that if I come back in the future to Hong Kong that the current staff will not be there anymore. And indeed I would be sad if I came back and the staff I know aren't there anymore. Though its only been a little more than 2 months, I feel like we've spent so many good times with each other. It's been an honour to work with a group of people that are so passionate about their job; everyone's' spirit and determination is inspirational. Below is a picture of most of us (missing Natalie :'( ), but hopefully I can replace it with a photo where all of us are present.

I never like saying goodbye's but there is a quote that I always refer to in these situations.  "Goodbyes are not forever. Goodbyes are not the end. They simply mean that I'll miss you, until we meet again." - Unknown Author

So until next time. Peace out.
Tiana

Summer Time!

So, working at HKDCS already requires us to be outdoors a lot a thus we all get tanned especially since it is summer. One intern especially, cough *Natalie*, has received a lot of comments about her new look! But to be honest all of us have gotten darker. In spite of this, a few of us decided to take a trip to the beach for a full day! 6 of us (Perry, Taison, Yuki, Heyman, Natalie and I) went to Sai Kung Tai Long Sai Wan for the day to relax and enjoy the day. I also took them to a waterfall near by which we could jump in and bravo to everyone as we all took a leap of faith and jumped in from the rocks above. Photo's will be coming soon once Yuki has them ready! We ended the day with a great dinner and were joined by Phoebe, Tiffany, Karen and Elise.

As a side note, 5th of August is also a special day for one of the staff members. Vincent and his wife celebrate the safe arrival of their baby twins. Congratulations! All the interns and staff wish you good luck with everything!

Hi~ Bertha here!

Hi everyone, I am Bertha, the forth intern working in HKDCS this summer.
First, I would like to apologize for updating the intern blog late. Working in HKDCS for the past few weeks is very enlightening and I have learnt a lot. I will try to conclude what I have learnt in the following paragraphs.

I will start with introducing myself. I am a year 2 student studying environmental science and management in City University of Hong Kong.
For the first few weeks I focused on the 30 Third Runway Victims campaign. This campaign has come to a huge success as we have collected 15000 comment forms from the public. Apart from preparing comment forms, I had met lots of dolphin guardians and helped with street stalls. The dolphin guardians come from different fields, so chatting with them is really interesting and I enjoyed it a lot.

Lately I am helping out with line transect and land based surveys and I had my third land based survey today! It is really hot but when I knew that we saw 10 groups of dolphins today, everything worth it!
I will update more next time ;)

Hi all, I am the third summer intern, Natalie.

First of all I would like to apologise for writing this post so late- I am already more than halfway through my internship... MANY things have happened in the past two months and i won't bore you with too much details. I willl just start by introducing myself and briefly recapping what have happened since I started working with the HKDCS.

I am a BA Geography undergraduate who have just finished second year of study at the University of Sussex in the UK. This summer I have come back to Hong Kong especially for this internship and also to collect data for my final year dissertation.

If you haven't already read the previous posts written by Tiana and Phoebe, with a total of more than 15,000 comment forms collected before midnight last Saturday, the 30 Third Runway Victims campaign came to a perfect end at the book fair. Everyone worked so hard through these 30 days including the staff and all the dolphin guardians (the volunteers). Never had I imagine myself participating in a campaign like this, and there I was, handing out paper fans in the 30 victims t-shirt and talking to random people till my throat was sore. It was truly a big step out of my comfort zone and a discovery of what I am capable of.

That's all for now, i will talk more about the fieldworks in the next post. Sorry i havent been able to write much about my experience- i hope the following photos will make it up to you!

one of our mysterious staff looking for dolphin during a boat survey

rallying for the Chinese white dolphin

View of West Lantau from the Shum Wat theodolite station

the Hong Kong Zhuhai Macau Bridge construction as seen from the Shum Wat theodolite station

another mysterious staff contemplating the meaning of life under the melting heat during a land-based survey

getting ready for the 7 1 demonstration- look how beautiful our t-shirts are!

leading a school trip to see the dolphins- stopping at Sha Chau

boat survey- the primary observer and the data recorder

Lastly, enjoy a video clip of the Chinese white dolphins I took on my first boat survey!