The original source of the following in unknown.
It is from the son of a friend of Bruno Uptagraftt who works
on the installation of undersea cable

Breaching Humpback Whale

Hi Folks,

Greetings from the high seas once again. We are presently engaged in PLIB (post lay inspection and burial) work of the cable we just installed. In some spots where the sea bed was too hard to get proper burial we have to use a jetting tool to cut a deeper trench (about 1 meter deep).

Some people used a similar method to express their opinion of us by carving the word IMPACT in 10 ft letters in the cliff above the beach where the cable goes ashore. If they used the phone or internet to communicate with one another then they must think we’re having a positive impact. Nowhere in the vicinity can the cable be seen.

The bore pipe is ¼ mile offshore on the seabed in 30 fathoms of water and nobody can see the shore station or any sign of the plumbing that leads to it. Morro Bay is the central cable connection on the west coast of North America . There are many cables running into here from all over the world.

When we install an upgraded cable for someone we go back and pick up the old one. By that time it has been on the sea bed long enough to have a large variety of sea creatures living on it, like sponges, coral, urchins, etc. As the cable comes on deck we have a couple of guys with shovels scraping that stuff off before it goes into the tank. We call that the Chowder Line. The guys can’t get every little bit so the cable smells pretty funky after a day or two in the tank.

Anyway, the state of California requires us to have this crew of marine biologists aboard to monitor our activities and protect the environment from us. Sometimes they make us stop work so our blades aren’t spinning when too many mammals surround us. No one minds the whale watching one bit. Sea Lions actually play with the cable as it goes into the water but they’re mainly here to take advantage of the fish and squid we attract. Humpbacks are the most curious of the whales, coming closer than any of the others, sometimes right alongside.

It is so cool to be doing this during the spring when everybody is migrating north through here.

All the best to all ashore......