The Oceana Latitude faced rougher seas today as it reached The Florida Middle Grounds off the West Florida Shelf in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico, roughly 100 miles from shore. This is another area that was apparently spared the impacts of oil drilling, at least this time. Oceana chose this location for its next diving operation … Read more
After nearly 30 hours in commute, we finally arrived to Tampa. The crew took off early this morning on the Oceana Lat-Long, the Latitude’s 28 foot tender, to dive at Egmont Key at the mouth of Tampa Bay. Egmont Key, a national wildlife refuge only accessible by boat, was home to Fort Dade during the … Read more
The Oceana Latitude sailed all night and day to reach its next destination, Tampa. We left at midnight and aren’t expected to arrive until 6 a.m. Sunday. The long commute allowed the crew to review and prepare photos and video from the dive operation off the coast of Key West. Although the conditions were not … Read more
The Oceana crew set off for their first dive operation at the Western Dry Rocks off the coast of Key West today at 9 a.m. The diving conditions at this first location were far from ideal. Recent storms stirred up the water with sand and mud, leaving the divers with limited visibility of only three … Read more
The Oceana Latitude is now anchored off the coast of Key West for the first leg of its two-month expedition. On our long voyage from Fort Lauderdale, we spotted a lot of sargassum floating on the surface of the water. It’s sad to imagine that this floating seaweed is at risk in the Gulf of … Read more
I’m happy to report, along with the rest of the crew, that the Oceana Latitude has officially set sail for the Gulf of Mexico. First stop…Key West! About 18 hours away for a vessel that cruises at approximately 11 mph. Oceana will work with its ROV and specialized divers to document bottom habitat and other … Read more
Good news. The satellite internet and phone system is back up and running. The crew took advantage of the day by spending time testing a majority of the equipment onboard the Oceana Latitude. Matthias Gorny from Oceana’s Chilean office, launched the ROV from the vessel to assess its standard operating procedures, including ensuring that its … Read more
It’s another warm day on the intracoastal of Fort Lauderdale. But great news! The ROV from Oceana’s Chilean office has finally arrived. After it was loaded on the vessel, the crew spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking several boxes of SCUBAPRO diving gear and making final scheduling arrangements for later in the expedition. However, … Read more
Oceana today kicked off the 2010 Gulf of Mexico Expedition studying the Florida Keys, a habitat affected by the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The Oceana Latitude – the 53 meter long vessel chartered by the international marine conservation organization – set sail from Fort Lauderdale (Florida) with scientists, professional divers and a submarine robot … Read more
Spanish model Almudena Fernandez has decided to join us onboard for the first week of the expedition as we travel down and around the Florida Keys. Almudena is a huge Oceana supporter and spent the day recording PSAs about the expedition. Oceana staff also became familiar with the onboard crane today, which will be used … 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.
