Legacy: Bay of Biscay 2008

Today we continued with the campaign by making two Rov immersions and one with divers. Ana Leiva (director of Fundación Biodiversidad) and Juanjo came with us. This was because they showed great interest in finding out what a day of work on the Ranger was like and our activities and the information we are collecting … Read more

We started the day sounding the canyon near the Castro Verde seamount to later sail toward the coastal area between Punta El Mariano and Punta la Code (between Islares and Castro Urdiales) where divers went on a shallow dive (between 6 and 15 meters deep). The rocky bottom with slight unevenness was covered by seaweed … Read more

Just like the day before, early in the morning, starting the day, we came across a group of 9 common dolphins (Delphinus delphis). As they did not approach the ship, we continued our course toward the Castro Verde seamount. We made the first immersion with the Rov in the canyon near the seamount on a … Read more

We started the day sighting a group of 3 common dolphins (Delphinus delphis), about 7 nautical miles sailing toward Cabo Matxitxako. It was once again a day of intense work with the Rov. We made the two dives in the same canyon off “Las Palomas” oil rig on a muddy bottom with some scattered rocks. … Read more

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