Summary

Description

During the three week NOAA Ocean Exploration project, Bermuda Deep Water Caves 2011: Dives of Discovery, our four member deep team, aided by numerous assistants, conducted eight deep offshore dives to a maximum depth of 448 ft., in addition to eight photo, instrument deployment, and exploration dives in inland caves systems. Principal discoveries made during the expedition were a natural bridge cave at 215 ft. depth on the northern edge of the main Bermuda platform, a drowned reef at nearly the same depth off the south shore, a sea level notch at 370 ft. at the eastern edge, and regularly spaced vertical rifts and jagged, possibly volcanic, cliffs along the southeastern side of Challenger Bank at depths to nearly 450 ft. All of these features were formed during the Ice Ages when world sea level had retreated to the depths that we reached on these dives.