Legacy: Bay of Biscay 2008

Today was an intense day of work with Rov. During the first dive, in the canyon off Ondarroa, we documented a muddy bottom where the following creatures dwell: prawns of the genus Pleisonika, octopi (Eledone cirrhosa), catsharks (Sciliorhinus canicula), four-spotted megrims (Lepidorhombus boscii), silver pout (Gadiculus argenteus) and color tube anemones (Cerianthus membranaceus). These last … Read more

Taking advantage of the fact that yesterday was a day off, the Rov’s technicians joined the two umbilicals, so we went out cheery. We wanted to submerge the robot at a greater depth. Unfortunately, an approximately 20 knot W wind forced us to stay close to shore, so we did the tests with the Rov … Read more

In spite of having the day off, many of us had pending work. So at a more relaxed pace, at any part of the ship you could find someone doing maintenance work on the scuba gear, checking the Rov’s operating status and welding the umbilical, organizing photos, doing the timing for the recordings, identifying some … Read more

Today we’ve surveyed canyons, identified interesting places and planned future dives. While sailing towards the canyons, we sighted various groups of common and bottlenose dolphins (Delphinus delphis and Tursiops truncatus). We also found a jellyfish known as Aguamala (Pelagia noctiluca) approximately 9 miles from the coast. During the dive, in front of Arrikola Point in … Read more

We’ve been at sea for almost two months with this campaign and have sailed for many miles –northern miles- although the truth is that we’ve been quite lucky with the weather and have been able to work practically every day. Slight winds and calm seas rocking us gently. The divers must dance to the rhythm … Read more

Early in the morning, we departed from Zumaia and headed towards Getaria. Once there, we carried out one of the most spectacular dives you can have in the Cantabrian. This is a coastal area where ocean sunfish (Mola mola) appear during the summer months. After Ignacio San Miguel from the K-sub diving centre showed us … Read more

In the morning, we returned to the canyon facing the Orio estuary to document the seabed with the help of ROV. Before getting there, 10.5 nautical miles from the coast and in waters with a temperature of 21ºC, we spotted a Portuguese man o’war. The substrate all along the canyon was muddy and this is … Read more

At last, the ROV is up and running and we plan on working all day with it off two seamounts, one in front of Ondarroa and the other facing the Orio estuary. We pass by two trawlers, from Gijon and Vigo, on our way to the canyons, working in waters 7 and 10 miles from … Read more

This morning, we departed from Zumaia to dive off the coast between the ports of Mutriku and Ondarroa. We left at 9 a.m., a bit later than usual, because we had to change crews. Juan Sigler (support diver) and Sergio Gosálvez (underwater photographer) have left, and Jorge Candán and Pilar Barros are once again aboard … Read more

We left early to reach the canyons before the wind picked up so we could work comfortably, without the boat moving too much. We reached the Potera Arrechu seamount and surveyed the area but did not find any significant changes in depth. A group of 15 common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) appeared directly over the seamount … Read more