OceanXplorer at the end of a long day of mapping, diving, and collecting off the coast of Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea. That little boat in the back is called Metal Shark. Photo: Jake Burghart

It Used to be an Oil Ship. Now It Helps Scientists Understand the Ocean.

The giant OceanXplorer ship explores the depths of our oceans, crewed by people trying to expand our knowledge of the deep sea.

by Jake Burghart

by Alex Chitty

photos by Jake Burghart

June 12, 2023, 7:45am

In June last year, we spent a week aboard the OceanXplorer—said to be the world’s most advanced scientific vessel and tricked out by experts, including Avatar director James Cameron. This 285 ft monster of a ship was originally used for oil exploration until 2016, when it was bought by the billionaire Ray Dalio and handed over for research. Now it cruises the globe exploring and doing cutting-edge research. On board are four deep sea vehicles, including two submersibles and a robotic vehicle capable of depths up to about 20,000 feet. That means it can reach nearly all of the Earth’s ocean floors.

We boarded at Duba, on the northwestern coast of Saudi Arabia, and joined its journey for about 200 miles south down the Red Sea coast to the port city of Yanbu before heading to KAUST University in Jeddah, where scientists are doing some pretty extraordinary experiments with coral. The result was a 50-minute documentary called Red Sea Mission, which you can watch right here on VICE.

The OceanXplorer is kind of a dream documentary subject. All the characters—some of the best and most interesting folks in the world of marine biology—were on hand to show us around. Unlike every other shoot ever, we didn’t need to lug cases of gear from location to location. The story, quite literally, came to us.

Coral in the Red Sea is hardier than your average polyp. Somehow, it manages to survive in the region’s very warm and relatively acidic ocean conditions—a conundrum that scientists on board the OceanXplorer are trying to work out. The hope is that these super-resilient coral will offer insights into how other reefs around the world might survive the coming decades of globally rising temperatures.

That’s not to say the trip went perfectly all the time. We got to shoot aboard one of the ship’s two submersibles at extreme depths, which included putting sound equipment in it—only to have it lose power at the bottom of the Red Sea. Still, we kept recording and filming—and eventually, the sub captain (maybe the calmest person you’ll ever meet at the bottom of an ocean) managed to get us back toe the surface.

Check out our photos from the shoot below.

A man holding drone operator camera aimed at Ocean Xplorer ship

Drone regulations in Saudi are pretty strict, so it was nice to just jump in the heli and get the shots we needed.

Looking back there should have been more anxiety about going a kilometer under the sea, but they had us so worried about not being able to pee for 8 hours that all of the available anxiety was focused there.

Bobbing around on the surface feels a bit weird, waves crashing over the bubble, the hot Arabian sun beating down, and slowly losing sight of the surface as you sink.

A tiny sea creature at the bottom of the ocean

Before you know it, everything is black. The subs have lights but until there's something for the light to bounce off of it’s just an eerie darkness as you continue to sink. Then this little squid popped up to let us know everything was OK.

A submersible lighting up the ocean floor

Then, the bottom. Once below the surface, the precision that our sub pilots could maneuver these little vessels was really impressive. We would hover right along the edge of huge seamounts just inches off the bottom then pause while the scientists collected specimens, or we got macro shots of little creatures.

A man in a submersible surrounded by equipment

Is it stupid that I'm wearing a mask in a tiny bubble that's recirculating our air for 8 hours with 2 other people that I've been quarantined with for 10 days anyway? Yes, yes it is. Now that that’s out of the way, check out this sick set-up. For the camera heads out there: I’m controlling 2 Red Monstros in Gates housings externally mounted on motorized pan tilt heads. One has a wide zoom, and one has a macro lens. The Suction cup EVF mount was vital for the macro focus.

If you look closely you can see the robotic arm out in front of the sub picking up specimens. It was controlled by a similar arm inside of the sub basically making it a full extension of yourself, so you could very delicately collect tiny fragments of coral and place them in a box.

We got off the boat in Yanbu, former home to Lawrence of Arabia. Now a mostly quiet port city with a poppin’ mocktail scene just after sunset.

Finding a Lemon Mint made with sparkling water at the end of a hot day, is everything.

Back on land, it’s reassuring to know that no matter what country you’re in, kids are still kids.

Wwe found a little roped off beach area in town where the local kids cooled off in the afternoon.

We didn’t disembark specifically for the mocktails, but to try and speak with some local fisherman about what they’ve experienced over the years. Shocker, despite the Red Sea’s thriving coral reefs, they’ve still experienced a pretty heavy decline in both fish populations and corals.

One reason for the decline, miles and miles of unchecked coastline with guys like these trying to make an honest living by dragging nets across the bottom of the sea.

We chartered a little boat and after a lot of argument with the sleepy port officials were back to sea.

A boat captain submerged in water with an anchor

Our new captain sets the anchor.

The islands around here are perfect: white beaches and vibrant reefs everywhere.

Tagged:ScienceoceansFramedMarine BiologyEnvironmentcoralCoral Reefs

It Used to be an Oil Ship. Now It Helps Scientists Understand the Ocean.

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