Where does the time go? It seems only yesterday that we, the intrepid explorers onboard the MS National Geographic Endeavour, were looking south into the unknown, wondering what 11 days of exploring the last great wilderness, Antarctica, would bring. It has been a dizzying experience that has blown most of our senses away as pictures of giant tabular bergs and majestic snow capped mountains have been burned into our minds; the sounds of thousands of squaking penguins (not to mention the smell of the colonies) still ring in our ears.
For Lindblad Expeditions, exploration does not stop with the terrestrial world, the underwater world holding just as much importance as the earthly. Each ship in Lindblad’s fleet carries an Undersea Specialist, a person who is solely dedicated to exploring beneath the waves, taking film to show to the guests on each ship within the comfort of the lounge. On Endeavour. we have an additional piece of specialized equipment called the ROV, or Remotely Operated Vehicle. The ROV is a small submersible flown from the surface, using a console that looks like an overgrown video game controller. The reason we use the ROV is that it has a depth range much deeper than any diver can go. Traveling to almost 500 feet, the ROV can explore some of the strangest looking terrain ever filmed; mountains of star fish and worms pile on the bottom, small sea spiders climb ever-so-slowly over sponges and tunicates, sun stars appear to try and frighten us away by waving 12 of their 32 arms in the air, and small fish with anti-freeze coursing through their blood jump in and out of the ROV’s lights.
Antarctica has one of the least explored benthic communities in the world, and it is not an uncommon event to review the weird and wild creatures filmed, finding that what you have is an undocumented or uncategorized organism. However, the ROV is not only used for our pleasure, but has assisted some research teams in Antarctica by sharing information, and even showing divers what lives just below their diving depths.
On a recent flight off of Anvers Island (just outside the harbor of the United States Antarctic Program’s Palmer Station), the ROV came across an incredibly rich and thriving benthic community. Pictured here is a Sessile Jellyfish attached to a bryozoan. Unlike its pelagic cousins, this jellyfish attaches itself to stable surfaces on the bottom. Waving the ball-like modified tentacles, it catches the small plant and animal life that live in the water column for sustenance.
We have explored the unknown, and it has left us longing to further delve into the depths of Antarctica.
For Lindblad Expeditions, exploration does not stop with the terrestrial world, the underwater world holding just as much importance as the earthly. Each ship in Lindblad’s fleet carries an Undersea Specialist, a person who is solely dedicated to exploring beneath the waves, taking film to show to the guests on each ship within the comfort of the lounge. On Endeavour. we have an additional piece of specialized equipment called the ROV, or Remotely Operated Vehicle. The ROV is a small submersible flown from the surface, using a console that looks like an overgrown video game controller. The reason we use the ROV is that it has a depth range much deeper than any diver can go. Traveling to almost 500 feet, the ROV can explore some of the strangest looking terrain ever filmed; mountains of star fish and worms pile on the bottom, small sea spiders climb ever-so-slowly over sponges and tunicates, sun stars appear to try and frighten us away by waving 12 of their 32 arms in the air, and small fish with anti-freeze coursing through their blood jump in and out of the ROV’s lights.
Antarctica has one of the least explored benthic communities in the world, and it is not an uncommon event to review the weird and wild creatures filmed, finding that what you have is an undocumented or uncategorized organism. However, the ROV is not only used for our pleasure, but has assisted some research teams in Antarctica by sharing information, and even showing divers what lives just below their diving depths.
On a recent flight off of Anvers Island (just outside the harbor of the United States Antarctic Program’s Palmer Station), the ROV came across an incredibly rich and thriving benthic community. Pictured here is a Sessile Jellyfish attached to a bryozoan. Unlike its pelagic cousins, this jellyfish attaches itself to stable surfaces on the bottom. Waving the ball-like modified tentacles, it catches the small plant and animal life that live in the water column for sustenance.
We have explored the unknown, and it has left us longing to further delve into the depths of Antarctica.
