America's Deepest Coral Reef
Posted By Tim Taylor on 20 February 2007
The area was first discovered in the 1950's by a malacologist (someone who studies shells and mollusks) named Dr. Thomas Pulley, giving the area its name. When he collected some deepwater benthic samples, he came up with unexpected species of mollusks and bottom-dwelling life forms. Some 50 years later, Brett Jarrett a graduate student from Florida State University while working from Dr. Pulley's notes, made this location a stop in his studies on sedimentation of the Gulf of Mexico. In the same year, Dr. Sylvia Earle MED81 was underway with a National Geographic Sustainable Seas Project collecting possible dive locations for her Deep Worker submarine. The unusual bottom sample found by Brett was brought to her attention at a Sustainable Seas planning meeting. From that fateful day in 1999 to the summer of 2005, the USGS in conjunction with FSU have made yearly trips to the reef, using remote sensory equipment to map and sample this unique find. Sylvia was able to deploy the Deep Worker submarine as part of her larger Sustainable Seas project, but because of the reef's low-profile carpet of corals, any close-up observation of this ecosystem required the human element. In spite of the expeditions' highly scientific equipment, to get up close and personal the task needed old-fashioned diving or perhaps better called new-fashioned diving in the form of closed circuit rebreathers and mixed gas diving.
Jim Culter FN97, a Mote Marine Lab scientist and co-flag applicant with Sylvia and myself, was given the job of gathering and training the team of divers on how to collect samples off the delicate bottom of Pulley Ridge. My team's responsibilities included expedition support vessel, dive operations logistics, underwater video, and photographic documentation. On our first day underway, while still 35 miles away from our first dive site, we received a message from the submarine-launching platform the R/V Suncoaster headed back to a safe anchorage in the Dry Tortugas. Speaking with the Captain, he informed us that the currents were just too strong to launch the sub and that they were going to wait a day before trying again. With months of planning and at least a week of work getting off the dock it was not the news we wanted to hear. The decision was made more by eye contact and facial expressions than with words, as I suppose many an Explorer has experienced. The looks said we've come this far; let's see it through and give this current at try. Gathering the team together, I briefed them for a drift dive designed to use the strong current to our advantage. This technique can be compared to dropping skydivers out of a plane. If they do not all go at the same time, they might potentially land miles apart. By dropping the divers from the moving boat all at once, they can drop down and ascend as a team with their passageways being defined by the currents.. One member carries a long line with a small grapnel hook at one end and a large orange buoy on the other, the boat can then follow the buoy and stand-by during the several hours needed to perform the dive and the required decompression. Fortunately, Pulley Ridge covers such a large bottom area that locating a precise drop site was not critical and using GPS coordinates was enough to launch the first team. After two successful four-man team deployments, and the collection of unique samples and close-up photographs, we all shared a sense of accomplishment. The ride to the Tortugas was surreal as we basked in this historic moment in time as the first divers to touch down on Pulley Ridge.
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