Extreme 2004 and Me
Click here for the Official Extreme 2004 Website
The Extreme 2004 project was a research and discovery mission to the hydrothermal vents two miles deep in the Pacific Ocean at an area called the East Pacific Rise. It's about 1000 miles west of Costa Rica, at a place where two of the gigantic tectonic plates –– pieces of the Earth's crust –– are pulling apart. Molten lava from the earth's core bubbles up there and creates an environment where there is incredibly rich life. The goals of the Extreme Project, which went from 2000 to 2004 –– and will be back again soon –– were to study the life at the vents and to report on it to people on shore. Craig Cary is the chief scientist for the Extreme program. You'll be able to read more about Craig in Across the Wide Ocean or you can click here.
In 2004, 650,000 students around the world followed our travels.
My job was to write about and photograph what happened aboard Atlantis and Alvin each day of the trip, and to send my messages back to shore. Mike League and I worked together on this. For more on Extreme 2004, including photos, journals, and video, click here.
I'm in the middle of the ocean on the fantail deck of Atlantis. The swimming pool is at right. That's where we tested out the remote control submarine I gave Mike – and where I was tossed, upside down, after my dive in Alvin.
These blowfish are in a shop in Manzanillo, Mexico, where we boarded Atlantis.
