Wide Eye Productions just wrapped up a shoot in the South Pacific on board an oceanographic research vessel. The shoot documented a study of the Samoan Passage, a deep underwater canyon and “choke point” in the Pacific Ocean. University of Washington Oceanographer Matthew Alford contributed this report about the voyage. You can read more of his Samoan Passage blog, here.
We launched the small boat today to get footage for our outreach videos of the ship and the lowered ADCP/CTD/camera system going in the water. David and I snorkeled with video cameras while Tom shot the whole thing from the boat.
Swimming in water 5,000 m deep (over 3 miles) was something I have wanted to do since I started going to sea, and it finally happened today after 18 years. It was a magnificent feeling – the water is so blue it is almost purple – and so clear you can look down into deeper and deeper blue until it finally turns black far beneath you. At that point the deepest water you see is probably only 100 m deep – 2% of the way down. It really makes you feel the size of the ocean.
Oh – and the water was about 86 degrees. Such a nice day for a swim in the middle of the Pacific.
Read on to hear about “Will it crush?!”
