"Oceans" Summaries

Chapter 1: The Mediterranean

      Set out to explore the Seven Seas, is a group of divers called Oceans. They are have been planning this trip for a while now to see the treasures and history under the water. There boat, Princess Duda, will help them with this expedition! First they are going to go to the caves in the Mediterranean Sea and explore the water culture. The first cave they entered was "Cova de sa Gleda" which had walls that sparkled. The second cave they went to was called "Genovesa"! This cave had an under water stone path and scattered pottery pieces of the ancient times. After their exploration of caves they went on a special diving trip to try and see a very rare shark called the 6-gill shark! This shark hangs out in dark deep waters and sometimes comes out to eat. The Oceans crew went at 1:30 am to get a glimpse of the shark. Later that week Oceans went to do some exploring on ships and ended up finding two anchors. One was from a 20th century ship and the other was several hundred years older. To end the trip they went and explored an under water volcano, but it was a great mound that was all blue and black. Say goodbye to the Mediterranean! Next stop: the Atlantic!

Chapter 2: The Atlantic

     Traveling across the Atlantic, and headed to the Island of Bimini is where they will find their next destination! The Oceans team is stopping in Bimini to visit the Bimini Biological Field Station, which is also known as "The shark lab"! Here they will discover scientists who are working on making a shark repellant to save the shark species. After a few tests with the repellant the Oceans team is on their way to the Bahamas riding out horrendous hurricane winds. Finally the winds are over and the expedition continues. As the Oceans team knows, the Bahamas is one of the best places for cave diving, they basically have an under water cave system! Their cave diving starts by an Island called Abaco in the Bahamas, and the cave is called Dan's Cave. Seeing these caves they know that before these caves were dry and above water. One of the team’s most memorable dives was in the Black Hole. This hole is 47 meters below limestone, and shows what the sea was 3.5 billion years ago. The water was hot, red, and it smelled like rotten eggs! It made some of the divers sick for a short period of time but the Oceans team said it was worth it!

Chapter 3: The sea of Cortez

     The expedition started from the harbor of La Paz and the boats were everywhere. The Oceans team first exploration was to board the boat Sea Escape and travel the Sea of Cortez to see the marine life! Many sharks have a habitat here including 9 species of Hammerhead sharks; the Oceans team is going to dive to see these sharks. This dive is not easy because these sharks are scared off with only the sight of air bubble, therefore the Oceans team must dive with bubble free re-breathers. After finishing up the team headed north to dive and find whales. Swimming with the sperm whales was one of the highlights of the trip said the team! Most of the whales are pretty social and will let you get close, particularly the female whales.  That was the end of the Sea of Cortez and now the Oceans team is headed to the Indian Ocean!

Chapter 4: The Indian Ocean

     The Oceans team is headed to the Indian Ocean to see the wicked storms and the powerful ocean! Their first stop is Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, which was full of busy people and markets. The Oceans team wants to discover the extreme currents of the ocean, and to do this they are going to drop a buoy into the water and let it drop to the ocean floor. A few days later the Indian Ocean gets a tropical storm and forces the team to head to the island of Pemba, which is of the coast of Africa. The main reason for coming to this island is to explore the so-called cliffs in the ocean. Many species of fish and creatures live down by these caves and many come out at night to lurk the seas! Finishing up the last week of the four, the Oceans team makes their conclusions and heads to the Red Sea!

Chapter 5:  The Red Sea

     This Sea will be one of the most difficult to get around in since it took almost a year to gain access to actually come here! The buildings in the streets look like the war just ended yesterday and not 1993. Soldiers still patrol the harbors! This expedition will be amazing considering that none of the Oceans crew had been there! The team arrives at a raised coral reef where they will see marine worms and mollusks. One special dive was a dive through the multicolored reef. The coral was green, blue, yellow and orange while unique fish also added color! The next stop in the Red Sea was in Port Sudan. There the team dove on a shipwreck that held explosives, aircraft bombs, fuses, ammunition and detonators. For a second time their last expedition was to see hammerhead sharks! To see a group of these would be amazing since most of them are going extinct around the world! The Red Sea was beautiful and contained many colorful pieces of coral and fish! The end has come and we are now off to the southern ocean!

Chapter 6: The southern ocean

     The Oceans team is headed to Tasmania's south east coast to a place called Pirates Bay to explore the marine giants! Another main reason is to see the kelp and how it plays a role in the creature’s daily lives, their first sight is by helicopter! After their kelp expedition they were headed to the Bathurst Channel area where the water was glass flat, but the water had turned dark brown or almost blackish. When the Oceans team began to dive in this water after about 7 meters down the water became clear but still totally black! The seaweed glowed bright colors and the creatures did too! Now it was time for the last dive round in the Southern ocean before heading to the Arctic Ocean! The Oceans team headed to the University of Tasmania to release lobster into damaged kelp areas to help the kelp come back. Heading to Elephant Rock the team gets ready to release 350 giant lobsters into the bay! The fun is now over in the southern ocean and it is time to set sail to the last stop of the journey: The Arctic Ocean!

Chapter 7: The Arctic Ocean

     This leg of the journey is the last and the team will be exploring the changes of the ice and the ecosystem! An extreme dive is set up for the team to go into the ocean. They must have armed guard’s watch for polar bears, ropes attached to the boat in case they get stuck in the ice and thick wetsuit to keep them alive in the frigid water. Under the ocean was long ice structures jutting down through the water and small amphipods. A scary moment occurred at 4 am in the morning when the boat was moving and it was supposed to be secured into the ice. One man from the team got up to see that a polar bear was working on cutting the ship loose, going from one anchor to another cutting it off! The expedition was coming to an end and there was one last thing to see in the Arctic... the Walruses! The dive was extraordinary! Seeing the walrus’s tusks and large bodies up close was amazing! The Oceans team had an amazing time in the Arctic and the 6 other oceans they explored! This book was truly awesome seeing the pictures of their explorations and hearing about what species live in every part of the world! The Arctic Ocean was by far the best chapter!