06 (B) December 2012; At Sea.

Today was a quiet day at sea, with the weather reflecting what we are used to in the Caribbean. Easterly winds fluctuating between 10 and 20 knots, especially later in the day with towering rain showers generated by the warm air uptake above the warm sea water and then condensating higher up.  So we had a good amount of showers coming over and later in the evening some spectacular fireworks by colliding thunder storms in the distance. The weather forecast for tomorrow in Bora Bora still looks good with only rain expected during the night between the two days that we are there. With the relative proximity of Antarctica that can change very quickly, but there is no indication that the weather guru’s are concerned that the moment.

As explained yesterday the Ocean is vast over here, with only little specs of islands dotted through the Pacific Ocean.  Those little dots of islands are the top of dormant volcanos and deep under water they are the far-up extending tops of mountain ranges.  Although deep deep under water, they form a semi circle and thus the area here is considered a Basin. In this case the Penhryn Basin. It is very large; it took us nearly a day to cross it, which means it has a diameter of about 400 miles.  So if you would be able to pump the sea empty here, you would see a ring of mountain ranges circling a deep valley with several very high pinnacle mountains in between and those would be the mountains that we know as islands. That basin would be 15,000 feet down and thus the mountain ranges would be comparable to the Himalaya’s to say the least.  A basin is considered to be a relative flat area, and relative is the word here.

The Penrhyn Basin, as if it was dry. (Courtesy, unknown internet source)

Inside the basin there are other lower mountain ranges or hilly ridges that rise 1000 to 2000 feet above the lowest point of the basin. Still 2000 feet is not much compared to 15,000 feet and thus the team basin is appropriate.  These areas are becoming of more interest to the outside world, due to the minerals that have been discovered there. 

Minerals compacted in the form of Manganese nodules, lying on the bottom of the basin.  With the ever increasing demand for raw materials and the improvement of mining technology, the harvesting of these nodules is becoming commercially interesting. Since 1976 when the first extensive explorations took place, discussions have been going on about how to get at them. Not easy as 15,000 feet is a long way down.

The latest thing I have heard is that a company is now experimenting with a sort of vacuum cleaner pipe to see if this distance can be covered. It might sound very much science function but telecommunication cables are already laid in these depths, and retrieved when broken and also drilling for oil is taking place in ever deeper waters. So a 15,000 feet vacuum cleaner might not be as far off from implementation as one would think. That apparatus would of course be sitting on top of some sort of ship and thus we would see a captain who would be in charge of a floating vacuum installation. Captain Hoover would be an appropriate name.

We just sailed over it, unaware of whatever was going on down there. Tomorrow we will approach Bora Bora from the Northwest and we are scheduled for a pilot pick up at 08.30 The pilot will remain on board with us, while we are visiting the other islands which are part of the Society Island group which is a French possession.  Thus the pilot is also French and as he is a former cruise ship captain, he will know exactly what our needs are while we go from destination to destination.  

There was a comment on the blog recently, if I could post a picture of my wife Lesley, who also goes under the initials of S.M. (senior management) we had some formal photos taken the other day, so please find below.