Chapter 741: Map of Black Gold Abalone Habitat
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The small yacht was equipped with an outboard motor. The yacht sailed on the sea accompanied by the sound of its engine.
Li Du laid prostrate on the balustrade of the bow of the yacht. The bow of the yacht cut through the seawater, and with the sea water splashing up, Li Du was wet in no time
Ah Meow, Ah Ow, and Crispy Noodles simply didn’t like the environment and rushed into the cabin to escape the water splashing onto the boat.
To take the three on board, Li Du spent another 200 AUD, and if they urinated on the boat, he would have to pay the owner an extra 1,000 AUD to clean up the mess.
Seeing the boat go far out over the ocean, Li Du turned to the shore, wagged his fingers, and said to the owner, “Hey, Robinson, can you try to sail along the beach?”
The owner of the boat had set up the autopilot. He poked his head out and responded, “Around the beach? Would you like to see the seaside view of King Island? I know a good place on the sea for fishing, and I want to take you there.”
“Go around the island first,” said Li Du. “Slow down, not so fast. I want to enjoy the view.”
“Yes, sir.” The owner of the yacht shrugged. “But I must tell you that it will cost at least a thousand dollars to make this turn! If we go straight to the fishing spot and stop there, then we only would use 500 AUD for the trip out and back.”
There were a lot of rocks along the coast, so a small yacht couldn’t go straight around the island. It would need to change its course constantly. In that case, it needed to travel at a different distance from the shore, which would consume more fuel.
Li Du didn’t care about the money. He wanted to see the habitat of the abalone there.
Lying in the bow, he released the little bug and let it fly into the water. Then he began to quickly scan the ocean floor.
The boat slowed down and slowly moved forward. The little bug moved at full speed in the water, sweeping a large area before following the boat.
The life on the seabed around the golden island was more abundant. The reefs under the sea were uneven. There was coral nearby. The beautiful coral lifted up the sea and made it colorful.
Small shrimp and crabs came and went in and out of the crevices. Some coral had sea urchins, turtles, and large fish appear from time to time and then head out into the deep water.
Australia’s offshore waters were home to some of the world’s richest populations of life, and its fish were interesting, ranging in color from bright gold to dull gray and black.
The bottom of the sea was covered with fine sand. Because the sea was clean, the sand on the bottom of the sea was cleaner than it was on land.
The little bug met a turtle the size of a pot cover. The turtle swam quickly in the water. A few white jellyfish came by floating in front of it. The turtle popped out its head and swallowed them easily.
A rock suddenly moved. Li Du looked at it in surprise. It was not a reef, it was a fish. It was a famous grouper.
Biodiversity at the bottom of the sea was wonderful, but there was none of the black gold abalone he needed.
However, he was not disappointed, nor impatient. For the first time, he had seen life on the ocean floor, and he was amazed at the spectacular scenery.
The boat continued on its way to the northeast corner of the island where a large shell swung past the little bug’s view.
Li Du was stunned and then reacted. Was that a black gold abalone?
He had the little bug go back and look at it. Sure enough, it was a big black gold abalone that could be harvested.
Seeing this, he cheered up and tried to search around some more.
However, he was disappointed. The little bug had plowed over a square kilometer and found no more abalone.
The yacht sailed on. If you try hard enough long enough, you’re bound to succeed eventually. Finally, an abalone zone appeared.
In a large red reef, the little bug spotted black gold abalone with impurities on their shells.
There were more black gold abalones there, both large and small, spread around in the area.
There were many cracks in the red reefs of the ocean floor, and a dark current ran through them. The abalones stayed in the cracks and reached out their tentacles to search for food.
Actually, it was not their tentacles. It was their eyes.
Li Du estimated that there were many abalones there, and they were concentrated in a lot of places. He saw quite a few large abalones, which made it a good place to fish.
He motioned to the owner to stop the boat, then memorized the surrounding area and took some pictures with his cell phone to avoid confusion.
“What’s the plan?” asked the yacht owner.
Li Du said, “I think the scenery here is nice. I want to take some pictures.”
The owner of the yacht shrugged and said, “Oh, it’s jet rock. It’s a tourist attraction on King Island. The name came from the gases that spurt out of the water like a jet.”
Li Du speculated that the gas might have been a crustal movement or a high-pressure jet from an undersea volcano, and that the color of the reef and the rich black gold abalone there supported his theory.
The terrain was complex, the ocean floor had a dark current, and the water was deep. To be safe, the owner of the yacht traveled in the water that was at least ten meters or more deep.
Li Du could dare to dive at a depth of four or five meters because he had trained to dive at those depths. To go any deeper, he would have to train some more.
One of the boats from the Fish and Hunting Bureau was passing by quickly. They were surveilling people who were here to harvest abalone to keep them from stealing it.
Taking note of the place, Li Du motioned to the owner to continue on.
As the yacht moved slowly, he controlled the little bug and checked the surrounding water.
The results were not so good. It was true that black gold abalone around the island was abundant, but the more abalone there was, the more fishermen were around, too. The abalone he found later in the day didn’t meet the criteria.
On the whole, there were not as many black gold abalone in the shallow waters around the island as there were near the southeast corner. However, the area was larger here, and some of the places had not been discovered by fishermen yet.
Li Du found several black gold abalone habitat areas and drew a simple habitat map.
However, none of them were suitable for harvesting. The shallowest habitat was on the side of the jet rock. It was at least ten meters. The other areas were 20 meters, 30 meters, 50 meters and even 100 meters.
At a depth of 20 or 30 meters, it would be inappropriate to harvest black gold abalone. The reason was that black gold abalone had a strong suction ability, so no one could peel it off in one breath. If you wanted to go up and down again and again to harvest it, it would take too much time and energy.
Having gained some idea of the surrounding area where black gold abalone lived, Li Du nodded to the owner of the yacht and signaled him to go to the secret night fishing spot where they would spend the night.
The island was not particularly large, but the boat circled slowly, and it took the afternoon to reach their destination. By the time they arrived, the sun had set, and the sea was dark.
