September 23, 2012
Fishing lines 500 feet deep
We are closely monitoring the weather, day and night, to see when it will be possible to head to Portugal, but meanwhile, it’s not looking so good for us here either. At noon a strong wind from the west forced us to cut our day short and pack up quickly after the last dive.
Today we studied the bank, where we saw a variety of different ecosystems separated by only a few hundred meters from each other. Our last dive – to one of Seco de los Olivos’ rocky peaks – is worth mentioning: I’m not sure if we saw more fishing lines or more black (Antipathella subpinnata) and white (Lophelia pertusa and Madrepora oculata ) corals, which formed impressive coral forests, but which are threatened by uncontrolled human activities.