NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer prepares to depart for the Northeast U.S. Canyons 2013 Expedition.

NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer prepares to depart for the Northeast U.S. Canyons 2013 Expedition. Image courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, Northeast U.S. Canyons Expedition 2013. Download larger version (jpg, 128 KB).

Leg 2 Commences!
July 31, 2013

New York, New York, is a beautiful city to start a cruise from. After a couple days of rest in the Big Apple, it is time to get back to work exploring the Western North Atlantic. Shortly after lunch, the Okeanos Explorer pulled away from pier 36 on the lower east side of Manhattan and headed for sea. There is nothing like getting a sendoff from Lady Liberty herself as we left the city and headed toward the Verrazano Narrows. It is still amazing that it only takes several hours of streaming out of New York until we will be in unexplored deep water. There is no better example of how little we know about the ocean than to realize that there are unexplored regions of the continental slope just 60 to 100 miles off shore. Less than 100 miles off shore from America’s largest city lay places and animals that have never been seen by human eyes. Tomorrow will bring our first remotely operated vehicle dive of leg 2 and who know what we may discover right in America’s backyard.