Month: June 2010

Fundación Biodiversidad coordinates the LIFE+ INDEMARES project (Spanish), the framework of our research of Seco de los Olivos seamount. Today we received a visit from three representatives from this foundation, Ignacio Torres, Zaída Calvete and Raquel Palomeque. We did two good transects with the ROV. During the first, in the eastern part of the seamount, … Read more

Today was very hot, the seas were calm and there was barely any breeze. We were so hot rolling and unrolling the umbilical cord on the Oceana Ranger’s deck that we threw various buckets of sea water over our heads. We did two dives in areas where the seabeds were mainly muddy. The most important … Read more

Sight: when you’re at the Oceana Ranger’s bow, you can’t help looking at the horizon; it’s like the sea is inviting you to meditate. Being on board ship and feeling the movement of the waves is relaxing. Hearing: apart from the sound of the water, you hear the crew’s laughter, especially Carlos and his “jejeje”. … Read more

Compared to yesterday, today was much more boring. We saw a large group of bottlenose dolphins this morning. One of them came up to the Oceana Ranger and after discovering that we were the same old “people from Oceana”, it left. We also saw various deep sea sharks, a grouper and surprise, a jellyfish!. But … Read more

I couldn’t ask for more from my first day on board the Oceana Ranger. A sunny day with calm seas. The ROV went down to 650 meters today. Not bad! And the images are impressive: we found a huge white coral forest, cup sponges and various sharks, including some deep sea species. Unfortunately, we also … Read more

Today we celebrated. Not only because Spain plays against Chile tonight. During the dive with the ROV this morning, we spotted a deep sea shark, although we have yet to identify it.  During my first day on the Oceana Ranger, my tasks were in the kitchen, but the rough seas didn’t let me do my … Read more

After a whole day working with the ROV and a couple of interesting dives, during which we saw groups of orange roughies, we return to port. We hear thumping sounds coming from the horizon as we get close to the dock. It’s Saint John’s Day, the night of bonfires to celebrate the beginning of summer. … Read more

Today we were in the southern area of the seamount, where the seabeds fall to the deepest area of the study, to roughly 750m. As expected, the pilot whales (Globicephala melas) made an appearance, a group of 6 specimens, that usually feed in this area. These cetaceans can dive down hundreds of metres in search … Read more

Although the east wind has picked up, today we’ve done two dives with the ROV, almost three hours each, and we observed many fish species. We tried the area east of Seco de los Olivos this morning, where the trawling marks are abundant atop a detritic seabed. We identify small solitary corals, crustaceans, cuttlefish, hake, … Read more

First substitution of “galley slaves”. Eva and Nati disembark and I come on board along with Soraya. And I couldn’t be any luckier. I was assigned the videographer’s “suite-cabin” and the seas are calm, the sky is blue and visibility is excellent. The excitement begins 15 minutes after we set sail: a group of roughly … Read more