At 8:00, as we are leaving the Ria de Viveiro, we start the day off with a large group of common dolphins –around 25-, calm seas and gentle sailing towards the mouth of the estuary. We are lucky enough to see a young dolphin jumping vigorously, lifting his entire body out of the water. It’s … Read more
We continue east along the Galician coast and head to the Niebla seamount, 6.7 miles off Cape Ortegal, at 100 meters depth. With the help of Olex, the programme that helps us establish a bathymetric profile of the seabed, we verify that the depths that appear on the charts are not correct. It is actually … Read more
Many of you will not remember, or were not born yet, but years ago, some of us worked hard on a document called “La Carta de Cedeira.” This text requested the banning of bottom trawling, the creation of marine reserves and support for sustainable fisheries. This would not have been significant if it weren’t for … Read more
ur second day filming the Bermeo seamount was very special. Three Minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) have accompanied our boat for more than 1 hour, getting as close as 2-3 meters from us. They were feeding, two large and one small whale, which is the one that came close to us various times. The adults were … Read more
We departed from Malpica and headed towards the Baldaio bank, only 3 miles off the coast. The divers are going to dive in the main canal that divides the bank in two sections. We must take into account that there will probably be strong currents. The minimum depth at this bank, measured during the lowest … Read more
We carried out two immersions with the ROV and two dives with the divers, covering the west, north and southeast coasts of the islands, so we’ve seen a variety of seabeds today. It’s a shame, though, that the dives with the ROV have been shorter than planned -we usually go for 3 hours- and we … Read more
That’s the North for you. Force 6 winds mean we are stuck at port. We certainly can’t work in these conditions, but some purseiners are heading out. We spend the day in port and many locals come by, interested in our ship and the work we are doing in the area. Activity at the port … Read more
We now head towards the northern coasts of the islands. The divers have to work double today, because we’ve changed ROV pilots and Mauro, the new pilot, doesn’t get here until this afternoon. The first dive is at a seamount that surfaces up to 15 meters. Although the weather conditions are quite complicated today (it’s … Read more
We are now near the Sisargas Islands, a groups of islands that were not included in the National Park of the Atlantic Islands. As such, the sea bottoms are not protected and fishing activities around the islands are not regulated according to environmental interests. The distance that separates these islands from the ones included in … Read more
Today, we will be filming in a seamount known as Villar de Fuertes, 12 miles off the Muros estuary. We submerge the ROV to 100 meters and find a large concentration of Venus’ girdles in the first 15 meters (Cestum veneris), a ctenophore than can reach up to 1.5 meters in length. We also spot … Read more
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