Wish list

Following the mishap with the Sea Patron’s engine, we decided to leave the port in search of things that we need this week’s work on the Lebanese coast. On the wish list from staff are: cables, batteries, medicine, gloves, keys, and herbal teas to help us to digest the food onboard. It turned out to … Read more

A Sunday in Beirut

Second day of “rest and relaxation” in Beirut. During campaigns in which we barely return to port, you appreciate these days, either more or less complicated, with more or fewer pending tasks, because what is clear is that they are different kinds of days. During the morning we have to process the dredging samples from … Read more

Back on dry land

… And so we arrived back in port! After the first 6 days of work we returned to Beirut having successfully carried out our tasks. Great! Once in Beirut, with our minds on the idea that we can now leave the boat and relax, we started with our work of checking and improving all the … Read more

Slopes and Corals

The day began hot and noisy. The maze which is the steampunk, the boat that has been my home during this last month, greeted me with blasts of hot air and a hellish roar coming from the engine room. In the work area the atmosphere was cooler and summery, and the Mediterranean was as flat … Read more

One month, 5 canyon systems, more than 750 km2…

Third day of the expedition over these virtually unexplored Lebanese Mediterranean seabeds. That’s precisely why we’re here. Oceana wants to study one of the most unknown parts of the Mare Nostrum. During the month of the expedition, Sea Patron and its crew aim to document an area of more than 750 km2 and investigate 5 … Read more

A new boat

Hello everyone. New campaign with Oceana. New waters too, in this case Lebanese, and their seabeds – which is what we have come to study. And a new boat. Which is what I’m going to talk about. We are in a tug of 42 metres in length, 11.4 metres wide and 622 GT, and not … Read more

Birthday on board

It’s always good to celebrate a birthday in a special and different way, and even better if it’s for a good reason. And that’s how it’s been, embarked on DEEP-SEA LEBANON Expedition and documenting life on board. Today we are a few miles from the battered cities of Tripoli and Beirut, just a few hundred … Read more

First dive of the expedition

We left port about 10 and sailed to the Jounieh canyon to test the equipment. We were checking and solving the typical problems we encounter on the first few days with the CTD, ROV, winch, etc. So we have nothing particularly interesting to report. While we were preparing the equipment, a group of bottlenose dolphins … Read more

Preparations in Beirut

Today we met with everyone involved in the expedition: the Lebanese government, the Navy Hydrographic Service, the CNRS, the IUCN and the RAC/SPA. We are agreeing the programme, protocols and other relevant arrangements before beginning the expedition. Meanwhile, our ship’s agent is handling the paperwork so we can start to operate at sea as soon … Read more