STRI staff scientist Héctor Guzmán is thrilled to explore the sea floor along Panama’s Hannibal Bank for the first time ever in the submersible DeepSee.  One of the first dives of this sea-floor mapping expedition was made by Hector and Joan Siedenburg, STRI friend and deep-sea exploration enthusiast.   Their dive was closely followed by that of Joan’s daughter Karen Tool, who teamed up with STRI Director, Eldredge (Biff) Bermingham. 

On each dive of the submersible, Guzmán takes video transects of an unknown area of ocean floor of the Coiba National Park and Special Marine Protection Area, contributing to the list of creatures that inhabit the Tropical Eastern Pacific in Panama and to the discovery of new chemical compounds to fight cancer and tropical diseases. 

Read about the experiences of oceanographer Sylvia Earle and the Mission Blue team on the expedition blog.

Get the same iPhone app that expedition members are using to identify fish and read more about how it was developed.