Sea from land

As the weather forecast was hovering between awful and worse, our campaign director decided not to sail today as working conditions were too rough. So we took advantage of our day off as people normally do: oversleeping, enjoying a quiet breakfast and doing some sightseeing. We visited the northern part of the island were the … Read more

Windy Saturday

We are almost at the limit of the wind speed we can work with. We tried to work in a sheltered area, next to a cape at the south of Gozo. We could feel the wind speed as it was moving the boat at about 0.7 knots, which was not ideal. When using the ROV … Read more

After the storm comes the calm

It was seven in the morning when we started what would become a good day for everyone. A new working day awaited us with the uncertainty of not knowing if sea conditions would let us send the ROV down to a significant depth. But we got lucky and could document interesting detrital mud bottoms with … Read more

Puppy

It allows us to see fantastic things in areas no man has visited before. It brings small gifts from the seabed, so we can learn a bit more about the waters that surround us. Because no matter how far away it is, it always obeys our instructions. And although it has no feelings, we always want … Read more

High tide and an entangled propeller

When we reached the ROV immersion spot, the wind increased slightly. The ROV was about 780m deep, so as the wind was blowing harder and the waves came before expected, we suspended the immersion and began to lift the ROV back to the surface with no major problems. Our journey turned complicated as the waves … Read more

Every day´s reality: plastics

Yes, the depths of the oceans and the life they hold are simply breath taking; dolphins, turtles and all the marine life that captivates us. We see many beautiful things but sadly they are never alone: there´s also pollution, plastic bags, cans, boxes and ropes in EVERY immersion we carry out, but they´re also present … Read more

Malta´s walls are dangerous

We saw it coming, and eventually it happened. Today we were about to lose the ROV; it was a rather nail-biting situation, the umbilical cable and the ballast were hooked on everywhere. The ROV itself was trapped with little mobility under a rocky ledge of the walls of the bottoms we are investigating. But we … Read more

The quest for caverns and underwater caves (Comino Island)

After the storm that hit the island yesterday, we set off determined to carry out two dives in Comino Island sheltered from the swell.Our goal, to document two ecosystems included in the Habitats Directive: sandbanks and underwater caves. Our day finished with dozens of images of species that will contribute to improving the protection of … Read more

Well-deserved break

Today we did (in my opinion) what one must do while in Gozo: enjoy the sea and the landscape. The wind was blowing too hard to go out sailing, so, after so many days of non-stop hard work, the moment for a windy day off in Gozo finally came. As a respectable bunch of tourists, … Read more

Close to the wind

It was an early morning for some of us on Friday the 12th of June. Departure was scheduled at 06:00 am. We arrived at the site of our daily research location and lowered the ROV. Some long hours of research led to the ever awaited moment of “return to base” call. As wind was favorable, … Read more