It has been a very busy summer for GlobalSubDive. Mid July we headed off on course to Bermuda on a mission with Nekton.
This specific mission represented the first in a series of missions that Nekton has planned and was a pioneering international and multi-disciplinary scientific research programme using some of the most cutting-edge subsea technologies available today. These included human-operated deep diving submersibles (HOVs), remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), and technical divers.
The Nekton missions set out to learn more about our oceans, not least the state of health of the oceans. Drawing in a multitude of experts and excellent groups and organizations, including the XL Catlin Deep Ocean Survey and also Global Underwater Explorers (GUE).
Keen followers of GlobalSubDive may already know that our co-founder and CEO, Mr. Robert Carmichael, is also one of the co-founders of GUE, a non-profit organization dedicated to the exploration and conservation of the underwater world.
Over nearly 20 years, GUE has been a leader in the education and training of technical divers, having trained more than 20,000 divers around the world. The organization leverages those divers to conduct exploration and conservation projects across the globe.
In 2009, GUE began a global conservation effort called Project Baseline inviting divers and water lovers alike to document freshwater and marine environments while supporting work with other scientific and conservation organizations. Project Baseline is growing steadily with over 70 projects in 27 countries.
The aim of Project Baseline is to establish a baseline for the state of health of the waters around us and as such the fit between the Nekton mission and Global Underwater Explorers is completely aligned, while GlobalSubDive can provide the perfect platform with its resources including the 146 foot exploration vessel and the two submersibles Nemo and Nomad.
The Nekton mission also had acquired the high energy TV personality, known especially in the UK from among other shows, Blue Peter, Mr. Greg Foot as the Onboard Science Reporter.
In the video below, Greg shows us the mobilization day. That was the day when all the equipment had to be loaded on board Baseline Explorer. As you will see from the video, this was quite a puzzle seeing so much equipment was going to be part of the journey.