Aquatilis Expedition: A team of marine specialists starts an underwater Odyssey of the 21st century

Young scientists plan an epic three-year journey through the unknown aimed to explore the world of most extraordinary creatures.

Aquatilis Expedition is the first around-the-world scientific popular dive expedition organized by a team of marine biologists, divers, underwater photographers, videographers and sailors.  It is an unprecedented interdisciplinary journey through the world’s oceans.

The main goal of the expedition is to research and document the life of the World’s oceans and creatures inhabiting them. Aquatilis is focused on comprehensive exploration of gelatinous plankton as this group of animals is extremely diverse and poorly researched.

Study samples are gathered mainly with tow nets which destroy the creatures’ delicate bodies - for that reason the only way to study this fragile organisms is to dive and monitor them in their own habitat. Gelatinous plankton are a very important part of the food chain and analyzing its place among other living organisms will be a giant leap towards a greater understanding of how our ecosystems works.

Aquatilis Expedition is not purely scientific – one of its tasks is to popularize science through an adventure show. Aquatilis will be the first ever around-the-world dive expedition to bring research to life through multimedia broadcasting.

Throughout the journey, everyone will be able to see the true colors of unseen marine creatures and to witness how scientific discoveries are made, right as they are made, via Aquatilis video blog during the journey and even before it starts on Expedition’s Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and other social media. Never before science has been so close to those who it ultimately exists for.

The Head of the expedition and a person who dreamed it up is Alexander Semenov – a marine biologist and an underwater photographer. For the last 3 years Alexander has been working as a the Head of the Divers’ team at Moscow State University’s White Sea Biological Station, diving, exploring the life of marine creatures, photographing them and sharing this pictures through his blog and media. 

The yacht “Aquatilis” is a custom-built, self-sufficient expedition vessel which is fully equipped for long-term navigation through oceans. The yacht is 70 feet long and is fit to carry 8 to 16 people at a time. “Aquatilis” is currently stationed in Marmaris, Turkey and is awaiting repairs, as well as customization work.

Aquatilis Expedition will set sail in 2015 and in three-year journey will cover over 30 000 miles, exploring the World ocean and its inhabitants, sharing colorful photos and videos of underwater life and adventures its team will have. The epic voyage will be partially financed through crowdfunding – everyone is welcome to support the project on IndieGoGo.

Aquatilis website

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