Getting ready for driving the Gulf of Mexico coastline

Well the thought of driving from Santa Barbara all the way along the Gulf of Mexico coastline to Clearwater Florida is both daunting and intriguing at the same time. Why are we driving? Well we want to get the best coverage possible and flying from point to point just won't accomplish that quite as intimately as being there and seeing it all from the ground.

So what do we need to do to prepare for such a journey? A portable refrigerator would sure be nice along with a second floor living accomodations. Living accomodations on a car? For 3 people? Is that possible... Believe it or not solutions like this exist! Ok what about a shower? Bathroom...whoah ok slow down, next thing you'll be doing is asking for the Kitchen sink!

Here's a better question can we do this ALL GREEN, Eco friendly...I think so! So we'll be looking at solutions and your suggestions for our film crew's long road trip to bring this compelling documentary to you at home! Send us your comments on this one, we really need your advice!

hmmm what about a solar shower?

Cape Cod Times article on our trip aboard ATLANTIS

Courtesy of WHOI

 One of the scientists we were privileged to work with, Tim Shanks, played a key role in the investigation of the ocean floor. Here's an article that sums up pretty well what we did and what we found. That picture you see in the article is a frame grab from Mike deGruys footage as you can clearly see an HMI light in the left manipulator hand of Alvin.  We came up with a better light configuration for Alvin and this shot clearly demonstrates the added capability we achieved for lighting the subjects deep under the sea.

Tim Shanks inside ALVIN DSV. 
Photo H.Rabin

For a little more on Tim Shanks discovery that helped change the way we view deep sea life forever, check out his audio interview with WGBH host Mindy Todd right here!

Staying safe in contaminated waters

Well we are definitely concerned about our health when we set off in January diving and filming in and around Oil Rigs, river mouths, estuaries, remote barrier islands and other places that may be harboring oil and dispersants. So precautions and research are underway to insure we stay healthy.

So most important on our list will be our choice of diving gear that will help to isolate us from these caustic substances. Scubapro is at the top of our list when it comes to innovative and dependable gear. Their new semi drysuits are a bridge between the conventional drysuit and wetsuit. We will be working closely with them to test these new materials and make sure we create an isolation layer between ourselves and any oil or dispersants we may encounter.

 The Scubapro Novascotia 6.5 semi-dry suits are not like any wetsuit we have ever seen before! The traditional bulky hard to put on and hard to maneuver in is the typical drysuit that we have been accustomed to over the years. As for head gear well looks like Scubapro has that covered too. Used by the military and commercial divers their full faced mask will keep us safe from contaminated waters.

As soon as we get this all dialed in we will take a close look at the gear we put together to keep us out of harms way right here on the blog.

The submarine briefing

Ok so I actually got to go inside Alvin several times in preparation for my dive. On my last visit inside I received a full briefing from one of Alvin's pilots Dave!

Now Dave actually spent 5 years with the Navy and in submarines! As soon as he got out he was immediately attracted to the idea of diving in the Alvin DSV so off he went to Woodshole Oceanographic Institute to get his training and become a member of the elite Alvin team.

Dave covered emergency procedures in the event of a fire or complete loss of power. He also went over Radio procedures and the T Bar. The T bar is the last resort and believe me your in for one heck of a ride if you have to resort to it. What it does is to basically release the almost seven foot diameter Titanium sphere from the frame of Alvin. You the begin your ascent and it can be like the inside of a washing machine as it tumbles on your way up to the surface! Unfortunately I missed out going down with Alvin but Mike deGruy went down twice!

However I have been promised that when the new Alvin is ready about 1 1/2 years from now I will be heading down inside it with a WHOI scientist named Tim Shanks.  I'm counting the days for that adventure!

Next post we'll talk with Mike and get his take on the Alvinn dives he took down to the bottom in search of the oil from the DEEPWATER Horizon spill!

GRAND Isle not so Grand anymore

Well there will be a lot more information coming over the next 30 days regarding our 10 days aboard the Atlantis but need to wait for the show to air before we can release the stories along with the images. I can tell you that we worked 20 hour days for almost 20 days to get the unique footage and perspective of what it's like to be aboard one of the leading research vessels in the world along with leading scientists amidst a crisis of incalculable proportion. 205 million gallons of OIL!Where it is and it's impact will be revealed here and only here in first hand never seen before footage very soon.

So this brings me to my 2 day trip to Grand Isle to talk to some of the locals and get their viewpoint and insight to the mess at hand.

From Wikipedia:

Grand Isle is a town in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, located on a barrier island of the same name in the Gulf of Mexico. The island is at the mouth of Barataria Bay where it meets the gulf. As of the 2000 census, the town population was 1,541; during summers, the population has increased to over 20,000. Grand Isle is part of the New Orleans–Metairie–Kenner Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Grand Isle's only land connection to the mainland is via an automobile causeway bridge, near the west end of the island, which connects it to southern Lafourche Parish, Louisiana. To reach the rest of Jefferson Parish by roadway, one has to travel through two different parishes (Lafourche and St. Charles) through a total distance of about 95 miles (153 km).

 I drove past many fishing docks and quaint little communities with the ocean usually in view from either side of the roadway. So why Grand Isle? Well mainly because it was pretty much ground zero for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill! Most of that crude that got away on top headed right for Grand Isle and hit with a vengeance.  Many of the long time residents of this beautiful community are outraged over what happened. Eight months after the spill, oil is still hitting it's coastline with the high tide like clock work every single night.

Mike deGruy is working now editing the documentary and as soon as it's done we will post information here so you can see and hear the incredible stories that unfolded in the brief time we were there. Keep an eye on on this blog for a release date.

More to come I just need a couple days to re-cooperate!       : >)  ZZzzzzzzz

ALVIN makes its LAST DIVE tomorrow before retiring

Well seems like the good old satellite internet has just been to slow up until now for me to post from the Gulf. Glad to be back! We've seen 12-20ft swells over the last 2 days as the wind kicked up to over 40 knots! I'll be posting that footage as soon as we get back to port in Gulfport MS. That should be on Wednesday now as we extended the trip one more day to get ALVIN one last dive. That dive will be with Chuck Fischer and Mike deGruy. This will be ALVINs LAST DIVE after over 50 years.

SENTRY is an amazing AUV because it literally acts as a scout before each ALVIN dive. The data from SENTRY provides an accurate underwater road map for ALVIN to follow and is an essential element to the success of each dive made.

OK a little on the weather...WOW! Watching waves crest above the horizon is quite a sight and getting swamped while filming TWICE was exhilarating and COLD! We have passed many oil platforms that are humongous in size and it's amazing that they can be out here in such weather and still be functioning. They are basically SHIPS at sea that do not move...
An interesting fact is that they do move several meters and when drilling at these great depths the pipe actually can bend or flex no problem, we hope!

Well I have to get back to filming, more later!

ATLANTIS is underway with ALVIN and SENTRY ready to go!

Well we're out to sea and have been zig-zagging our way past the incredible amount of oil rigs/platforms out here in the channel. The SENTRY was tested last night and they had all 4 propellers spinning away on deck! What a sight!!  Sentry will launch, or fly as they say, early tonite and will act as an advanced unmanned scout for the track Alvin will take when it launches in tomorrow morning. Mike deGruy will be on board for that first dive.

Can't upload pictures or video yet because we share the satellite bandwidth not only with everyone on board but actually with all ships who share the one available channel on the satellite up there orbiting planet Earth! More on that later...

We have a new BLOG editor coming onboard as well, yep someone who's a great writer...Of course that will be Neal Rabin... Signing off for now.

Paid a Visit to the Atlantis and Alvin yesterday with ABC news on board. We leave tomorrow...

Hey everyone well you can imagine we've been running around here in Mobile, AL in preparation for boarding the Atlantis tomorrow! I'm actually taking a quick break and then I have to finish up packing the computer gear! Check it out!  Yesterday we spent the entire day in Gulfport on the Atlantis. We were met by Samantha "Mandy" Joye and did a great interview with her focusing on her experiences in the ALVIN over the last 30 days. You'll see this in the documentary but I can tell you this much "THERE's OIL DOWN THERE," lots of it!
We spent some time in the Science lab with Mandy and then had the opportunity to work with Matt and Erin from ABC news and helped them crunch some video they needed to get out for Nightline.  We heard some of you saw that report so let us know how it looked! We didn't get to see it...Anyhow back to packing!
Got up close with "ALVIN" and you can see that here too. Please send questions and comments and we will try to respond to them ASAP. This is a wonderful scientific expedition and your all invited to come along with Mike deGruy and me...see ya!

Scientists gather at the annual BAYS & BAYOUS Symposium

We're here in Mobile, AL. and spent our first day meeting many of the leading scientists in the Gulf area. There was plenty to learn about the effects of the oil spill in this region and many stories were shared. One interesting story was that of Kerry St Pe who gave an incredibly informative talk on the condition of the wetlands and how they have been in a steady decline over the last several decades. The wetlands play a vital role in the ecosystem and specifically in recovery from catastrophic events such as Hurricanes and pollution. The amazing thing is how resilient they are when left alone vs. digging up the shoreline and removing flora and fauna and sand that may be contaminated with pollutants. Of course the most recent threat to the wetlands has been the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The remedy quite surprisingly enough appears to be to "Just leave them alone." Also amazing to us Kerry St. Pe did believe that using dispersants was actually a good thing. Read more about the wetlands here.

The modern world we live in...Greetings from 35,000 miles high in the sky over Texas

So I'm sitting here on an American Airlines flight headed to Gulfport, MS and posting on the plane from my iPad. It's pretty incredible how far technology can soar in some areas and yet fail in other situations. Take for example the Gulf, a catastrophic failure of technology onboard the DEEPWATER Horizon...There is more information surfacing everyday and maybe some of you out there have your own theories based on the current data available, of course, on the INTERNET. Now if only they could apply some of that great technology out there to cleaning up the oil. We will look into that matter as well. For now 50 year old technology needs to get modernized!