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August 1, 2017

Borkum Reef Grounds

BY: Oceana Web

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It’s Monday evening when we arrived at Eemshaven harbour. A huge sticker “Oceana” on Icelands vessel Neptune welcomed us, along with a dozen smiling nationalities (mainly Spanish) in Oceana shirts.

It was a hard work out taking our diving gear to the lower deck. Scientific gear – like box corers, the ROV and multi beam sonar are an extra hurdle to take here. The vessel has been on expedition for a couple of weeks now. As an experienced dive team from the Dutch foundation, Dive the North Sea Clean, we were invited to share findings and knowledge in the Borkum Reef Grounds.

After a tour around the ship and hearty diner, we started to get organised and kitted up for the next day. We are used to a big diving vessel, but this one is different – especially the way to get in the water is a bit more challenging. Five persons with double gas tanks and equipment now have to get into a small inflatable dingy.

We managed to do so and fortunately for us the sun is shining and the sea is calm. Once we were in the water, we saw sand and some tiny life – like small crabs, sea stars and a few anemones species. My buddy, photographer Udo, showed me a rock that was a three centimetre-piece of gravel. Unfortunately that is all what we found in today’s two dives. Hopefully, we will have more luck tomorrow!