The first dives of the expedition took place on the Antikythera shipwreck today, setting up mooring and safety lines at various depths, so that the boats can be safely positioned above the site, protecting it and also providing a safe operating environment for divers to work and decompress.

Datum lines were also established to help orientate research activities this season. The level of excitement has increased with the site now ready for work, after spending the last week setting up the tonnes of equipment needed for the project.

Stay tuned for insight from one of the most exciting underwater excavations in the world.

Phil Short and Gemma Smith, preparing to splash for the first dive of the season.

Evan Kovacs filming schools of fish swimming in the surge during decompression, after filming on the wreck.

Lowering the water dredge, ready for excavating.

Gemma Smith decompressing after being the first female diver on the wreck, as far as we know, another milestone for today.

Phil Short, decompressing after the first dive on the wreck for this season

Alexander Sotiriou decompressing after his first dive on the wreck this season.

OTE-COSMOTE is the expedition’s telecommunications provider, connecting the team with the outside world.

To support the project, OTE-COSMOTE installed two new cell phone towers last year on Antikythera. One is near the island’s largest village, Potamos, and the other overlooks the shipwreck site. Beyond project needs, this provides better (and much faster) connectivity for the island in general. It’s great that the Return to Antikythera project can provide such a legacy for Antikythera, in association with OTE-COSMOTE.

Here’s some photos taken by one of our drones of the tower that serves Potamos.

Underwater archaeology depends on a wide range of equipment, first and foremost apparatus to breathe underwater, which becomes more challenging at depths below 40 metres. Secondly, gravity is different underwater, meaning that you can’t just remove sand and place it in a wheelbarrow, as with land archaeology. These two topics lead into an explanation regarding equipment being prepared in Antikythera today…

Rebreathers
The majority of divers in the project will be using rebreathers, which are different from standard scuba kit – where exhaled breaths are recycled in a ‘closed circuit’ system, filtered, with a touch of oxygen added, and ‘re’-breathed. This is a lot more efficient than standard Scuba kit, meaning that less breathing gas is needed per diver and optimal breathing gasses can be inhaled.

Divers breathe a special gas mixture, commonly known as Trimix because at depths deeper than 50 metres, a gas mix including helium is better so that some of the nitrogen and oxygen we normally breath in air is removed, because of undesirable properties under greater pressure. Too much nitrogen at depth leads to a phenomena called nitrogen narcosis (aka. raptures of the deep), with similarities to being intoxicated, impairing the diver’s ability to work underwater. Sponge divers who recovered statues and the Antikythera mechanism in the early 1900’s breathing air pumped from the surface would have suffered a lot while working.

Underwater Dredge
Another piece of equipment being prepared today is the underwater dredge, a suction system that will be used to carefully excavate parts of the shipwreck that are buried in the sand. The plan is to set up an underwater grid and create associated trenches, to systematically remove pockets of sand. It could take years to excavate the entire site, so a systematic approach allows work to take place in a modular way. Everything found will then be logged onto a detailed map/chart, to indicate the spatial relationship between items recovered.

Preparing the underwater dredge.

Over 70 metres of hoses are needed for the underwater dredge.

This is the VMS Sentinal rebreather that most of the team is using.

Notice the twin hoses connected to the mouth piece in the middle. Gas breathed comes in from one hose, and is exhaled and ‘recycled’ through the other.

And a view of the twin hoses from the other side, with the mouth piece that the diver breathes through, in the centre. The clear cylindrical object at the top right displays warning and status lights throughout the dive.

Preparation is in full swing, as all the equipment has now arrived at the main compound. Members of the dive team are unpacking and assembling their equipment, filling cylinders and testing kit.

Briefings are taking place so that team members from Greece, the United Kingdom, America, Sweden & Australia work cohesively as a group. Also assembling smaller sub teams. Everyone has their own specialty, plus a lot of common skills, such as technical diving expertise.

Something that isn’t generally mentioned in stories about the project is that addition to scientific and technological challenges, logistics are difficult and expensive. Tonnes of equipment has to be brought to Antikythera for the duration of the project and then returned, even a rented forklift. Then there’s the human element, 20-30 people have to be accommodated and fed (a number greater than the permanent population of the island), a temporary dive centre needs to be set up, organising supporting vessels, plus scientific infrastructure and so on. The project is a massive production!

Team members have been arriving in Antikythera from around the world over the last few days, using all modes of transport ranging from the standard ferries, to a helicopter transit provided by our good friends at Costa Navarino.

Our two dive boats from Crete and Alimos are in Antikythera, with the mother ship, MV Glaros due shortly, which is generously provided by the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation.

Thousands of kilograms of equipment and supplies have also been arriving, literally tonnes of material to support diving operations and the team for the next few weeks. The main task for this week is preparation, ready for first dives on the wreck on Sunday or Monday, depending on the weather.

Some may not realize how logistically demanding this project is, taking science to new limits on a number of fronts.

Stay tuned!

The Return to Antikythera team comprised of a lot of talented people, across a wide range of disciplines (and nations). From archaeologists to technical divers, robotics experts, vessel skippers and crew, photographers and film makers. Here’s some candid photos of team members in action this season. A first installment featuring about one third of the team. Subsequent posts will follow shortly.

Dr. Theotokis Theodoulou, Project Co-Director, maritime archaeologist in the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports.

Dr Brendan Foley, Archaeologist – Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Project Co-Director & visionary.

Alexander Sotiriou, lead diver, fieldwork organiser & technical diving instructor.

Phil Short, lead diver, rebreather instructor trainer.

Evan Kovacs, bottom diver, videographer, film maker.

Brett Seymour, bottom diver, photographer.

Nikolas Giannoulakis, technical diving instructor

Thanasios Chronopoulos, diver, boat skipper

Alex Tourtas, archaeologist, diver

John Fardoulis, photographer, content producer, diver, drone pilot.

Konstantinos Kotoulas, boat crew, diver

Evita Simoni, photographer

OTE-COSMOTE installed two new base stations (cellular towers), to provide our project and guests  reliable, fast 4G mobile internet coverage. Most of these updates were sent to the internet by their 4G network.

These new base stations will remain in Antikythera, providing the island with improved infrastructure as a result of the Return to Antikythera project and OTE-COSMOTE’s sponsorship.

We were very fortunate to have the Hellenic Navy as a partner during the Return to Antikythera 2014 season.

They provided the vessel, HN THETIS and a full crew, which functioned as a support craft for the Exosuit.

HN THETIS, anchored next to the Antikythera shipwreck

HN THETIS, a stable platform for the Exosuit

A seven man Navy SEAL (O.Y.K) team was also assigned to the project by the Hellenic Navy, who spent a considerable amount of time training on mixed gas Sentinal rebreathers prior to fieldwork, the same units as used bottom divers in the Return to Antikythera team.

The Hellenic Navy SEAL (O.Y.K) team assigned to the project.

Crew from HN THETIS, Navy SEAL (O.Y.K) & Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities teams all working together

Antikythera is a difficult place to get to. There is no airport (just a helipad), ferry services are limited and weather is often inhospitable, cutting off the island.

Hence, we were lucky to have Costa Navarino as a sponsor, providing a Bell 430 helicopter for transport when we were out of other options.

It brought VIP guests from Athens and those transiting from abroad, transported the archaeologists and diving team to Kythera for the sponsor event and was a nice safety blanket in case we got stuck.

Mathias Buttet, Hublot R&D Director, leaving Antikythera with the Costa Navarino helicopter.

The yacht, turned research vessel GLAROS, provided by sponsor, the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation also helped a lot, being a platform for AUV deployment, providing accommodation and transport throughout the 2014 Return to Antikythera season. Especially transporting most of the archaeologists and diving team – plus hundreds of kilograms of equipment to Piraeus on Wednesday when fieldwork finished, rather them having to wait until Sunday for a ferry.