Every day of this two-week expedition brought a new experience to the Pristine Seas team’s seasoned marine biologists, who had seldom seen such a productive marine environment.
Working in collaboration with the Waitt Foundation, the team traveled from Punta Arenas through the Francisco Coloane Marine Park, the Tierra del Fuego archipelago, Cape Horn, and the Diego Ramírez Islands. Their goal: to study and film the marine ecosystems in the region’s fjords and remote islands.
To achieve a comprehensive survey of the environment, the team made scuba dives to depths of up to 30 meters, used remote underwater video and open-water cameras, and deployed deep-sea drop cams to depths of over 2,000 meters. Among the wildlife they observed were humpback whales, sea lions, rockhopper penguins, albatrosses, false king crabs, and kelp forests populated by sea stars, sponges, and other marine invertebrates.