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September 27, 2014

Treacherous Day

BY: Oceana Web

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© OCEANA / Carlos Minguell

 

We set off early in the morning towards the Baja de Anacon harbor outside the Marine Reserve. It was a little earlier than usual because La Restinga was holding a swimming competition “The Voyage of las Calmas” and 400 swimmers would be taking the area.

At this point, at about 850 feet deep, there is a sandy bottom with small areas of volcanic rocks. The dive started with the sighting of three Deania sharks and several oilfish (Ruvettus pretiosus). Furthermore, we were able to document the presence of hexacorals (eg. Madrepora oculata, Desmophylliun dianthus), gorgonians (Acanthogorgia sp., Candidella imbricata) and hexactinellid sponges. We were surprised by the frequent occurrence of juvenile specimens of conger eels (Conger conger) in this environment at this depths.

At the end of this dive we had a problem with the ROV telemetry because a bulb broke, so we aborted before expected. Our diving team (photographer, videographer and support diver), dived in an area called Roques de la Hoya. At the end of this dive luck was not on our side, as we lost the Ranger´s anchor after many attempts trying to release it from some rocks where it got stuck.  Back in port and with the crew morale a little decayed after such a treacherous day, several spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis) paid us a visit to cheer us up. Tomorrow will be another day.