Last night we made a dive to see if we could spot some deep sea sharks, which at that time are usually rising from deeper areas in search of prey. And just at about 500 meters deep we found a Deania cf. calcea, a small shark with an elongated and flattened nose. We continued to … Read more
Today we worked east of the Gettysburg seamount. It is here, in the valley between the two underwater mountains that more interesting species often appear (and where we often see cetaceans). The sea is almost flat. It’s been a long but full day. We conducted dives on small 100-200 meter elevations found on the eastern … Read more
The first ROV immersion was to a sandy detrital bottom at 500 meters deep. There was little diversity. We found many solitary fan corals (Flabellum Chuni), several types of fish, a stripe, urchins, crinoids and many dead mackerels (Scomber japonicus). It looks like they were discards. On the surface we found a lot of storm-petrels, … Read more
According to the weather, we are going to get a break to work on the Gorringe bank. It may only be 2-3 days, so we have to make the best of it. Today we are in port (Vilamoura) doing paperwork and waiting for the new Portuguese scientists to come on board. In the morning we’ll … Read more
These days (September 29 and 30 and October 1st) we have been working in Faro, collaborating in a project about the effects of sea bottom trawling coordinated by the Algarve University. During the three days we have been filming the bottom opposite Faro, we have had two members of the project on board – Paulo … Read more
Everything is set, we are now off to Faro to pick up two researchers from the University of the Algarve, who will join us for two days of work in front of Faro before we leave for the Gorringe bank. We are still depending on the forecast, so maybe we spend one more day here, … Read more
The weather forecast is very changeable. Every time we consult it we get different forecasts to the previous ones. Making a decision this way is quite complicated, but we strongly intend to leave for Portugal. At last we work the whole day in the Chella Bank after three days moored and we make the most … Read more
We still can’t go sailing so although unplanned, we decided to go on dive. Our divers were able to find a corner of the coast sheltered from the waves overlooking Roquetas de Mar, and dive into a magnificent posidonia seagrass meadow, one of the last barrier reefs preserved in Spain. Fortunately, it is included in … Read more
These days we are trapped in port by force 5 to 6 winds. Not only can we not work with the ROV, but the turbine has also been damaged. As always in these cases, patience and perseverance are of essence: we check morning and night to see if the wind will die down enough for … Read more
We are closely monitoring the weather, day and night, to see when it will be possible to head to Portugal, but meanwhile, it’s not looking so good for us here either. At noon a strong wind from the west forced us to cut our day short and pack up quickly after the last dive. Today … Read more
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