Anyhow there's a good reason why the whales and seabirds congregate in this area - the waters around seamounts are highly productive. The water is pretty cloudy right now - it's the 'spring bloom' and the plankton are particularly abundant, which means that conditions are not great for underwater filming but that there is a lot of marine life to film.

For the last two evenings we have been treated to a spectacle that few are ever fortunate enough to see. Great swarms of krill (small crustaceans) have been visible at the surface, appearing as slightly rusty patches in the water. Every so often these patches begin to boil as huge shoals of fish arrive to feed as a great hungry mass, in a frenzy lasting as long as 30 minutes. Seabirds also join the feeding bonanza in great numbers. Looking over the rail of the ship yesterday we could clearly see huge numbers of horse mackerel and every so often the shoals would disappear as some larger predator, too deep for us to see, cut its way through the shoal in search of its own meal. As well as the usual Cory's shearwaters, we saw both Common and Roseate terns join the feast. Among my favourite birds, these 'sea swallows' were wheeling round the ship, and some decided to land on the stern rail for a temporary rest. I haven't seen the footage yet but Richard the videographer has caught this on film, with the beautiful sunset as a backdrop.

Earlier in the day Gavin and Wolf made a couple of dives in the volcanic caldera over which we're anchored, and filmed the shallow sea vents and great walls of barracuda. As they were surfacing from their last dive they saw a sunfish. These giant fish feed on jellyfish, salps and ctenophores. Ctenophores are more commonly known as comb jellies and are semi-transparent, gelatinous animals which look like (but do not sting like) jellyfish. As a group they have probably been somewhat neglected by marine biologists, in part because they collapse when caught, but recent advances in photographic techniques make them much easier to study. While on his second dive, Gavin took some incredible shots of these beautiful creatures with his macro lens. Later when going through the shots, we were all rather surprised to find a small fish inside one of these animals. We are still learning a lot about the complexity of these marine food webs, but what is immediately clear is the interdependence between all the different species.

Right now we are back on the spot where we lost the drop-camera. Fingers crossed that we will manage to retrieve it.

- Richard