Robert Ballard's exploration vessel, Nautilus, has begun its four-and-a-half month exploration of the Black Sea, the western Mediterranean Sea and the coasts of Sicily and Israel in search of ancient antiquity, sites of Neolithic settlements, ancient ships and spectacular undersea geography. The entire expedition is being streamed live at www.nautiluslive.com so you can see every new discovery as it happens, as well as hours and hours of looking. You also hear all of the on board chatter. Yesterday, we were checking in and heard one team member reminding the others, "Remember what Dr. Ballard says...'You've gotta find a whole lot of nothing before you can find something.'"Today, they really did think they found something as sonar showed what appeared to be a Cold War era submarine wreck off the coast of Turkey. But when they circled back around for another pass, the new angle revealed it to be just a geological feature.
The photo above was taken in the "Control Van" on board. If the crew member on the left looks young, it's because he's a rising high school junior! His job is to record data. Student involvement and education are extremely important to Dr. Ballard. What a great summer gig!
We expect that Ballard will have a great deal to share from this expedition, which will be in its final weeks when he addresses The Richmond Forum in November. We can't wait! Meanwhile, we'll keep checking in live. (It's addictive.)
A small number of seats are still available for the 2011-2012 season of The Richmond, just $155 for all five programs. Visit www.richmondforum.org or call 804-330-3993.
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