Oceana Ranger Expedition 2010: On-board Diary

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Northern Ibiza. Dives II. The last day of the campaign.

Author: Silvia García
Date: August 15, 2010

Like on land, the cliff walls of Ibiza’s northern coast fall 30 or 40 metres into the sea. Today we chose to dive off Margaritas Island and Punta Torretas, but there are so many options and we would have liked to sample other areas as well. Unfortunately, today is the last day of the campaign and we don’t have any more time.

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Diving in northern Ibiza

Author: Silvia García
Date: August 14, 2010

Yesterday we crossed the Mallorca channel, from Cape Blanco to the northern coast of Ibiza. The strong winds and heavy waves meant the end of this campaign was going to be rough.  In the end, it rained a little and there was some lightning and a little movement during the night. But luckily, we didn't have to cancel any of the dives planned for today off the northern coast of Ibiza.

 

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West coast of Mallorca. Diving in Cape Blanco and sailing to Ibiza.

Author: Silvia García
Date: August 13, 2010

Today, we returned to Cape Blanco, on the west coast of Mallorca, a few miles south of Palma. We wanted to dive in the area again because these sandy bottoms harbour a wide variety of ascidians and other interesting species we want to document.

 

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……. When a friend leaves

Author: Carlos Pérez
Date: August 12, 2010

Today, a day off, I was emotionally hit hard. Today an old friend said goodbye to me. It’s been hard. We’ve spent many memorable times and other not so memorable times together. My friend, who I’ve placed all my trust in, has been the guardian of my things, my sweethearts, my tools, my riches, my sort of secret notes... He has acted like a faithful squire or he has tried to protect me from the filth that sometimes surrounds the lives of human beings; not always successfully. Always generous, always self-sacrificing. I never heard the least complaint from him. Always by my side.

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We unloaded the ROV.

Author: Silvia García
Date: August 11, 2010

Yesterday was the last day of submersions with the ROV. So today, after spending the night in Cabrera -we had to request the necessary permits to spend the night in a protected area like this one- we headed toward Palma to unload the ROV.

 

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Cabrera Archipelago. Why expand the National Park?

Author: Silvia García
Date: August 10, 2010

The Cabrera Archipelago has been a sea-land National Park since 1991. It is one of the best preserved natural enclaves of the Spanish Mediterranean. This applies to its area with spectacular wind-shaped stubby vegetation and geology and what lies underwater. These protected areas, when they are well managed, hold a sample of how the Mediterranean would be if we treated it with the respect and care that it deserves.

 

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Emile Baudot, day two. These seamounts never cease to surprise us.

Author: Silvia García
Date: August 9, 2010

This is the last available day for taking samples from this seamount. Therefore, we have taken pains to get as many hours of filming as we could. We have worked in areas more than 500 m deep with muddy bottoms colonized by interesting species like on a shallower part, only 150 m deep where we knew we would run across a huge variety of gorgonians.

 

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Emile Baudot, day one. Fields of rhodoliths and concentrations of Gryphus vitreus.

Author: Silvia García
Date: August 8, 2010

Third and last day in the seamounts of the Channel of Majorca that we will explore during this campaign. On this seamount, because of the distance that separates it from the coast -more than 40 nm, both from the Pitiusas and Majorca- fishing has been reduced in recent years to barely some recreational fisherman in search of big trophies. This raises the possibilities of finding ecosystems that are still well-preserved.

 

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Channel of Majorca. Pockmarks, holes in the seabed.

Author: Silvia García
Date: August 7, 2010

After spending the night, we anchored at Cala Tarida, to the west of Ibiza. We set out early again toward the pockmark area between Ausias March and Ses Olives where we had already been on the 4th. Now our goal is to find, if possible, these curious geological formations on a seabed deeper than 500 m.

 

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Ses Bledas, west of Ibiza. When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

Author: Silvia García
Date: August 6, 2010

What can we do? If the report is bad, it’s bad, and we can only approach land. The west of Ibiza seems like a good spot because it’s sheltered by the strong easterly and it is one of the areas where we have planned some dives. So we set our course to West early with more than 6 hours of sailing ahead of us.

 

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