Today marks the last day of the Océano Profundo 2018 expedition, during which we explored deep waters surrounding Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, some of the least studied waters in the entire U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone of the Atlantic Ocean. This morning, NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer pulled back into port in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where we started the expedition 22 days ago. The team spent the day wrapping up expedition projects and packing up gear. After more than three weeks at sea working and living together with an amazing team, we have mixed feelings about the end of the expedition. On the one hand, we are sad that this amazing expedition is coming to an end and we have to say our goodbyes, but on the other hand, we are also looking forward to decompressing after a lot of hard work, as well as to seeing our families and friends again, especially for the Thanksgiving holiday.

We are happy and proud to be part of such a successful expedition. We were able to conduct 19 successful remotely operated vehicle (ROV) dives to depths ranging from 250 meters to 5,000 meters (820 to 16,404 feet) that collectively explored over a linear distance of more than 9.5 kilometers (6 miles). At night, we transited to dive locations for the next day and mapped the seafloor while in transit. We mapped close to 15,000 square kilometers of seafloor, an area larger than the state of Connecticut or the land area of all U.S. Caribbean islands combined. Major achievements of this cruise include numerous new observations on the biology and geology of the region, including high-resolution video, environmental data, as well as physical samples collected in previously unexplored deep-sea areas. The data and samples will all be quality controlled in the coming weeks before making their way into publicly available archives. A big part of our mission is to collect enough information so that it can be used for follow-on research and management activities. We have no doubt that the tremendous amount of data collected during this mission will lead to many new findings.

Deep-sea exploration is a large team effort and all of the accomplishments from this expedition would not have been possible without the support by a large group of hard-working people. The ship’s officers, deck crew, and engineers kept the ship running smoothly and provided support for all operations, as well as ensuring that all 49 people on board were safe and happy. The ROV team and engineers piloted the ROVs through challenging terrain and spent many evenings and nights getting the vehicles ready for the next day. The mapping team worked throughout nights and often times also during the day in order to produce the high-resolution maps that we needed to safely conduct ROV dive operations. The videographers and video engineers spent long hours before, during, and after every ROV dive processing video, so that we all could experience the true beauty of the deep sea. The writers worked with everyone onboard to make sure that all the exciting discoveries were made publicly available via our website and social media. The science leads narrated over 96 hours of dives, and also spent hours after hours writing reports, processing samples, and preparing plans for the next day. The data managers worked around the clock so that all the data was properly labeled and archived. Last but not least, the medical provider ensured everyone stayed in good health. Tonight, we will all have dinner together to celebrate the successful mission. We will of course think of all the people that provided invaluable support to the mission both on the ship and from shore. We send a warm thank you from San Juan to all those who made this expedition possible, and we thank you for following along!