The just completed Brazilian Seamount Expedition has been an important project for us on many fronts. For conservation, this is the first ever look at an extremely remote, unexplored region that has great biological potential. For the team and Sea Dragon, this was also a first test of our ability to conduct remote dive operations. Unlike most dive expeditions, we had to operate completely unsupported, over 350 miles from the nearest land, with no possibility of sheltering shorelines, or the option to set up a base camp on land. We dove to over 300′, using complex tri-mix gas blends (Oxygen, Nitrogen and Helium), in completely unknown conditions. It was also the first time we have done intensive underwater video shooting on board. We don’t get much chance to do “easy” ocean expeditions so the team took this in stride. Here is a first cut of the HD video that Becky Kagan from Liquid Productions shot. Becky filmed this over 3 weeks…and pulled the first cut intro video together, at sea!
Our next step is to secure the funding to take over 50 hours of video and cut it into a documentary that can be shown to support conservation measures in Brazil.