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June 15, 2008

We are still in the Sisargas Islands

BY: Silvia García

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©OCEANA/Carlos Suárez

 

We now head towards the northern coasts of the islands. The divers have to work double today, because we’ve changed ROV pilots and Mauro, the new pilot, doesn’t get here until this afternoon.

The first dive is at a seamount that surfaces up to 15 meters. Although the weather conditions are quite complicated today (it’s windy and wavy), we are not going to cancel the dive. Later, we notice that the currents have made their job even more complicated and the divers come out of the water exhausted. This means the next dive will be carried out in a sheltered area, near the island. The seabeds are at 15 and 19 meters, which means the divers can stay underwater for more than one hour. Right now we are looking for general images of the seabeds in this area. Next time, we will look for details and take macro photographs, because the rocks are completely covered by small corals, bryozoans, hydrozoans, nematodes and a variety of species we must document.