Message 9

The day starts with good weather, which although this is not new to us, we are very grateful. We give priority to the ROV as we do every other day, and we start the prospections in the platform’s alcyonarian fields. The favorable weather conditions and the relief of having achieved our goals permit us to perform the immersion calmly. This allows Gavin to display his expertise and record excellent close-ups of the alcyonarian colonies and other species. We truly enjoyed exceptional moments, and we hope to share the images with our project workmates. We repeat the immersions, and we do not realize that time goes by. We finally decide to perform a deep immersion down to 240 meters, in an area identified by the campaign chief as a white coral area. Great. The immersion is successful, and we find the coral. This immersion represents the maximum limit to which Gavin’s ROV, that he named “Nemo” has been immersed. Its record was 180 meters until now. Better luck is almost impossible. We decided to finish the filming tasks with this immersion, and Gavin starts to take apart and pack the ROV.

We made some drag scrapings in order to finish the activities, and by 9 at night we decide to head towards Barcelona. The scheduled arrival time is around 2 in the afternoon, and we have time to rest, sleep a little, and pick everything up in the morning. The truth is that picking everything up is very important since all the material, samples, and equipment should be put away in the right place, and be cleaned and checked to ensure that it is in perfect condition.

The return trip is calm but some of us returned a little bit “touched.” A cold, very likely to be passed on by one of the workmates, has been our stowaway during the whole campaign. It is very difficult to get away if you get constipated on a boat. Luckily it’s not serious, and the general condition is good upon arriving at port. In the end, we feel the weariness, but the success of the campaign makes up for everything. We will return soon, but we do not want to end this campaign without introducing the people who have participated. A picture and a few words would be sufficient for you to get to know us. In a few months we will go back onboard the B/O García del Cid. We are going to study the platforms to the south of Minorca, and we will be back with everybody. Until then, we have a long period of work within the framework of the LIFE+ INDEMARES project; we will report the results on this same webpage. See you very soon. 

(posted 30 September 2009 )