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June 2, 2008

At last, the first images of Galician sea floors

BY: Silvia García

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©OCEANA/ Carlos Suárez

 

After an 8-day crossing and 3 days in port preparing the ship in Vigo, we finally took the first images of what promised to be very interesting sea floors.

We departed from the Real Club Nautico in Vigo at midday, after having received and distributed all the material necessary for the campaign: diving equipment and cameras, books and guides about undersea nature and the ROV itself, as well as the divers, scientists and technicians in charge of handling all of this. The team consisted of 14 people, each one with specific responsibilities. The desire to enjoy ourselves and work hard was shared by all, though.

The campaign was inaugurated with the ROV’s first dive and the wonderful images filmed by the divers. The sun was shining bright, as bright as in Murcia, the first place I can think of where the sun shines, visibility was good, the water temperature was acceptable for the divers and the sea floors were full of maerl, ascidians, laminarians, holothurians and starfish. This was off the coast of Cangas, at 13-14 meters depth and after two trial dives that allowed us to solve some minor details, we could start filming tomorrow without any surprises.

At 17:00, we picked up and headed towards Sanxenxo, where we will spend the night. But first we will submerge the robot once again to 17 meters in the Pontevedra estuary to test the electronic and positioning system after having detected some problems. Everything is ok.

So, the day ended and 7 or 8 large, common dolphins greeted us at the entrance to the port by jumping out of the water. “Those Galician dolphins sure can jump,” says Bibi the sailor, like a little girl.