At Sea
The guests of the MS Endeavour spent the last two days on the remote islands of Tristan da Cuna and Nightingale. It was an incredible experience to be able to land on these seldom-visited islands and experience new landscapes, animals, and people. However, the land of the islands on the edge of the roaring forties was not the only object to hold new phenomenon, the ocean did as well.
Underwater explorations
As we have traveled North the air has gotten warmer, and so has the sea. The water has changed to a brilliant shade of blue, and the visibility in some places is over 60 feet. For Undersea Specialist, Dennis Cornejo this means only one thing, underwater activities. Surrounding the islands are remote kelp forests, the last we will encounter before the tropical reefs. Our first instinct was to dive, but the majority of these islands have never been dove on by outsiders, so we turned to the islanders of Tristan for advice. They have been fishing and exploring these waters for many years, and are the definite authority. Immediately we found some interesting facts, there are sharks in these waters, and many types: black tip oceanic, blue, bull, and great white sharks were at the top of the list. These sharks are oceanic, meaning they eat large prey only once and awhile, which makes them quite a bit more aggressive than reef sharks. So we opted to stay out of the water and instead took the ROV down.
The first thing you notice as the ROV is descending is the clarity of the water, incredible visibility, however this means that the water is sterile. In fact, the more clear it becomes, the more barren it is, unlike the life filled waters of the Antarctic, where the visibility is sometimes only to the end of your nose. The next thing that entered the ROVs vision were fish, schools of them. We saw Sheepshead fish (in the porgy family). This is a shy fish and it is often found lurking in holes and crevices. They eat mollusks, crabs and barnacles. They are very good to eat (we are able to attest to this fact as the crew caught fresh fish from the deck of the MS Endeavour and served it to the guests onboard). We also saw several different species of Wrasse fish. These cigar shaped fish have a habit of burying themselves in the sand at night, often making a gelatinous cocoon to protect themselves. As they mature their color changes, often going from one end of the spectrum to the other. Their sex also can spontaneously change as they mature. Additionally, we saw a large fish, the South Atlantic Amberjack, another one of our fresh catches of the day for dinner.
The spotted seven gill shark…quite a dangerous predator
We cruised the ROV along for almost an hour, enjoying the good weather above and below the surface. We looked at the macrocystis kelp forest, around and under rocks, and at the fish passing by, sometimes lazily swimming in front of the camera, and other times darting in and out of view, as the ROV flew along. While looking at some Sheepshead fish, a shark suddenly appeared, swimming gracefully though the water, with hardly any effort. We later identified it as the spotted seven gill shark. This shark is a quite a dangerous predator. Growing up to ten feet, it eats fish, eagle rays, carrion, and other sharks. It is quite aggressive, and has been known to attack without being provoked.
The life under the water is becoming more diverse as the MS Endeavour heads North. This incredible ROV trip is just a sample of what we will see on the underwater adventures to come.
The guests of the MS Endeavour spent the last two days on the remote islands of Tristan da Cuna and Nightingale. It was an incredible experience to be able to land on these seldom-visited islands and experience new landscapes, animals, and people. However, the land of the islands on the edge of the roaring forties was not the only object to hold new phenomenon, the ocean did as well.
Underwater explorations
As we have traveled North the air has gotten warmer, and so has the sea. The water has changed to a brilliant shade of blue, and the visibility in some places is over 60 feet. For Undersea Specialist, Dennis Cornejo this means only one thing, underwater activities. Surrounding the islands are remote kelp forests, the last we will encounter before the tropical reefs. Our first instinct was to dive, but the majority of these islands have never been dove on by outsiders, so we turned to the islanders of Tristan for advice. They have been fishing and exploring these waters for many years, and are the definite authority. Immediately we found some interesting facts, there are sharks in these waters, and many types: black tip oceanic, blue, bull, and great white sharks were at the top of the list. These sharks are oceanic, meaning they eat large prey only once and awhile, which makes them quite a bit more aggressive than reef sharks. So we opted to stay out of the water and instead took the ROV down.
The first thing you notice as the ROV is descending is the clarity of the water, incredible visibility, however this means that the water is sterile. In fact, the more clear it becomes, the more barren it is, unlike the life filled waters of the Antarctic, where the visibility is sometimes only to the end of your nose. The next thing that entered the ROVs vision were fish, schools of them. We saw Sheepshead fish (in the porgy family). This is a shy fish and it is often found lurking in holes and crevices. They eat mollusks, crabs and barnacles. They are very good to eat (we are able to attest to this fact as the crew caught fresh fish from the deck of the MS Endeavour and served it to the guests onboard). We also saw several different species of Wrasse fish. These cigar shaped fish have a habit of burying themselves in the sand at night, often making a gelatinous cocoon to protect themselves. As they mature their color changes, often going from one end of the spectrum to the other. Their sex also can spontaneously change as they mature. Additionally, we saw a large fish, the South Atlantic Amberjack, another one of our fresh catches of the day for dinner.
The spotted seven gill shark…quite a dangerous predator
We cruised the ROV along for almost an hour, enjoying the good weather above and below the surface. We looked at the macrocystis kelp forest, around and under rocks, and at the fish passing by, sometimes lazily swimming in front of the camera, and other times darting in and out of view, as the ROV flew along. While looking at some Sheepshead fish, a shark suddenly appeared, swimming gracefully though the water, with hardly any effort. We later identified it as the spotted seven gill shark. This shark is a quite a dangerous predator. Growing up to ten feet, it eats fish, eagle rays, carrion, and other sharks. It is quite aggressive, and has been known to attack without being provoked.
The life under the water is becoming more diverse as the MS Endeavour heads North. This incredible ROV trip is just a sample of what we will see on the underwater adventures to come.
