LiQUiFY Magazine December 2014 | Page 29

Words & Photos // Luke Sorensen I t’s late season, and just off a remote Queensland beach a plethora of activity stirs in the deep blue - but it’s not all that it seems. We’re here on a strike mission and a hunt of a different kind. The LiQUiFY crew has just boarded a tiny scout vessel, joining the chase with Dr Olaf Meynecke and his team as they undertake a radical new exploratory study into humpback whale biology, genetics and diseases. Olaf’s approach is quite simple - fly down with a drone, hover over a 45 foot creature ploughing through the ocean and capture its snot. ‘This is going to get weird quick’ we thought ... and of course, it did.