August 1, 2016
Anglerfish
Today the weather was very rough. Strong winds made sea conditions very unfavorable for just about anything we did. Off shore the waves reached three meters making ROV dives impossible. We decided to stay closer to shore and hide behind small rocky islands for calmer conditions. That made acceptable conditions for scuba dives.
We got a dive in before lunch. It was much different than any of the other dives we have done on the expedition so far. Huge kelp leaves covered the rocky bottom, finding life and especially documenting it on photos and video proved to be quite tricky. Our second dive in the afternoon started out much the same…kelp, kelp and more kelp… About half way through the dive Jorge Candan spotted an anglerfish, almost a meter long. I am sure I speak for all the divers when I say this, by far, has been the underwater highlight of the expedition. For a good half an hour, the Oceana paparazzi got to work – the angler was bathed in video light and flashes from the camera. The angler did not seem to care much, it was very corporative…maybe it just enjoyed this brief moment of fame…