Underwater Expedition

27 November 2023

Underwater Expedition with the ‘Oosterschelde’!

We’re now in Punta del Este, Uruguay! On this journey, we’ve experienced a bit of everything: delightful sailing, occasional motor cruising, a few rain and thunderstorms, cold nights requiring the use of jackets, sweaters, and hats again, and the first albatrosses flying around the ship. We even caught a few Mahi Mahi, expertly prepared by our ship’s cook. The list goes on.

On this trip, we’ve also done something special that has not been done before with the ‘Oosterschelde’. We embarked on an underwater expedition! About 50 nautical miles south of Punta del Este lies a unique underwater world that has been recently discovered. At a depth of 20 meters, there’s a steep underwater cliff where the seabed drops from 20 to 28 meters in one go. This underwater cliff serves as the habitat for the “yellow lemon fish” (seriola lalandi). The underwater cliff where this fish species resides stretches over a length of 40 nautical miles. No research has been conducted on this habitat, and until today, there were no underwater images of this cliff.

Using our onboard depth sounder, we conducted several search maneuvers with the ‘Oosterschelde’ to locate the cliff. The challenge is then to position the ship exactly in this spot so that the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) can enter the water and film this underwater world. On the first attempt, the ROV navigated directly among the “yellow lemon fish.”