Day 3. Counting fish We are ready to start diving with our group of eight scientists plus dive instructor Kirstin. At the diving deck we are queuing up with our regulators and fins in hand. Then the captain gives a sign and we jump into the water at a rapid…
Crossing to first spot As I write this blog, the mobile phones are flying away and I have to stop my laptop not to fall down from the table. We spent the night in the lee of the island of Saba and are now on our way to the first…
Today everybody is arriving in Sint Maarten. Excitement is building up. For half of the 17 researchers this is not the first time on the Caribbean Explorer II, which is good for me, they’ll know the drill. The airport in Sint Maarten is still not fully rebuilt since it was…
Header image: Saba Bank during our expedition in 2015 (photo: David Stevens). We (Lisa Becking, Tobia de Scisciolo, and me) are ahead of the rest of the team to try out techniques that we want to use on the Saba Bank and to refresh contacts with our coral restoration project…
Authors: Amanda Schadeberg and Wouter Jan Strietman The Pristine Arctic? The Arctic Circle conjures images of a wild frontier of exploration: vast planes of ice, menacing mountain peaks, rough seas, and beautiful aurora borealis. But even this part of the world has been touched by humanity’s seemingly insatiable appetite for…
When I think back on this expedition; about all the things we have been doing; all the beaches we have sampled, the distance we have travelled, I can’t even think of one single highlight. We have had so many highlights that will make this trip unforgettable. After heading south from…
Plancius took a turn and headed straight north. After half a week on board, the atmosphere among the passengers has become more relaxed, interactions have moved past the small talk and into enjoying each other’s company. Martine was invited to give a presentation on the project to inform the passengers…
The weather turned and the sea got rough. The doctor on-board was quite busy giving out ear patches for sea sickness. So far we have managed to sample two beaches on this trip, and we are quite happy with that. Along with our partners in other parts of Svalbard, we…
Our four days in Longyearbyen consisted of laundry, sorting samples, preparing for the coming second half of the expedition, and much anticipated showering! We also exchanged our team member Hans for Kimberley, an expert in marine aliens and biosecurity from New Zealand. We were now a four-women research squad, ready…
We reached the final beaches of the southern part of the expedition overnight. We were in Bellsund, a fjord located halfway between Hornsund (to the south) and Isfjorden (to the north). We started around 05:00 to be able to sample during low tide. When we emerged on deck we found…