Billowing hot smokers, towering mineral chimneys, and giant tubeworms will be highlights of submersible dives streaming live high-resolution video via the Internet— from one of the most fascinating regions of the deep ocean, located 250 kilometres offshore southern Vancouver Island.

The R/V Thomas G. Thompson left Seattle Washington June 11 headed for NEPTUNE observatory sites with a crew of 28 scientists, engineers and educators headed by Expedition Leader Ian Kulin, Associate Director of Marine Operations at Ocean Networks Canada (ONC).

The major goals of the two-week expedition are to service and expand cabling of deep water NEPTUNE observatory sites in the Northeast Pacific Ocean. A special focus will be on the Endeavour site, located within a marine protected area along the mid-ocean ridge – a continuous range of undersea volcanic mountains that encircles the globe.

“This will be a challenging cruise that will run 24/7 with a great multi-disciplinary team from Canada, France, Spain, the UK and US,” said ONC’s Director for Science, Kim Juniper. ”We’ll be testing our satellite telepresence to share live dives with the world via our Wiring the Abyss website, along with informative audio commentary from our onboard team.”