Fifty-four days ago the Oceana crew embarked on this expedition that today is coming to an end. My mission was to document the expedition visually and I have tried to capture all the beauty this sea beholds: the light, scenery, its character and inhabitants. I’ve also managed to show all the hard work my workmates … Read more
Today is the last day at sea and we have been able to dive the ROV just once, this morning. Since then the current and waves have risen meaning the work here is coming to an end. The crew has started to think about the way back to habour and going home. Now our last … Read more
We’re approaching the end of our expedition and we’re still doing ROV dives and taking grabs, and searching for a shipwreck to snorkel around – we haven’t managed to find any since Claver Bank in Norway! The last days of an expedition always go by so quickly but we’re working hard to get all the … Read more
Something changed. After many days of studying silty sea beds we now reached the Klaverbank. It’s great to look at the live underwater coverage of rocks and pebbles again. Large dead man’s fingers, edible crabs, sponges and other hard substrate species come by. For me, as a Dutch biologist, this area always fascinated me and … Read more
This week we’ve had a quiet sea and excellent weather. Through the ROV we saw miles of sea beds; sandy ones with stream ripples, or clay ones with a bubbly texture, or with pits and tiny hills with a crater on the top, like small volcanoes: worm holes? In general just a few living creatures … Read more
The last days have been calm and mild, and today the sun has peeked through the clouds again. The temperature today is also in the better range, and the northern girls have jumped into their shorts and t-shirts, and we are washing the mud-splashing grabs in bare legs and rubber boots – just like being … Read more
You learn a lot about patience when working on research vessels. There are many things which are beyond your control; the weather and currents being the most obvious ones. At any time you need to be able to adjust your plans and work under the prevailing conditions. Things may also break down and you need … Read more
Yesterday’s massive swells allowed us to do nothing but grabs…and grabs we made…countless numbers of them! Waking up this morning, we were excited to see the swells had calmed down enough to launch the ROV. Straight after breakfast the ROV was on its way to the bottom of Gasfonteinen, in Dutch waters. Gasfonteinen is known … Read more
After a night sailing on a pretty bumpy sea we arrived in Dutch waters, in the area named Gasfontijnen. In Dutch, this literally means ‘fountains of gas’, or the so-called ‘pockmarks’. Pockmarks are craters in the seabed caused by gas and liquids erupting and streaming through the sediments. At these pockmarks you can find some … Read more
It’s our last day in the Vesterhavet area and today we’re 20 miles from the coast of Denmark. It’s a huge sandbank area here in which, even though we’re far from the coast, the depths are often only 10 metres deep. When we snorkel in a sandbank, we always hope to find some sea rocks … Read more
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We have already protected nearly 4 million square miles of ocean and innumerable sea life - but there is still more to be done.
Oceana in Europe gratefully acknowledges EU funding support.
