ATLANTIS II

The Atlantis II is the vessel used by Dr. Robert Ballard when the Titanic was discovered back in 1985. Atlantis II sits in Mayport Florida (Jacksonville), near the mouth of the St. Johns River. This famous vessel went off shore June 8, 2011 and I was invited to join her in her journey.

The day started at 08:00 with me jumping in my vehicle to meet up at the pier for the 9am departure. With all my photography gear, I hussled onboard to meet the crew and owners of the vessel to immediately begin documenting the day, on film.

I was introduced and took a tour of the vessel. We of course performed our US Coast Guard drills before hitting the ocean. What an impressive ship. She is beautiful and quite a site. I can only imagine how busy she was during the day of working above the Titanic.

As we headed offshore, just passing the jetties, dolphin joined us, dancing and playing just in front of the sonar dome. Their cries could be heard both above and below water. Below the water level, in the dome room are 5 glass ports which you can see through. Though they are partially cover with life, the water rushing by was exciting to see. As we left port, dolphin join us as they played, bouncing out of the water as they stayed in pace with the ships speed. [singlepic id=305 w=320 h=240 float=]  Their chattering could be heard both on the bow and in the dome room, where the portholes are located. Here are a few pictures of what it looks like in the dome room.

We spend about 6 hours at sea which during that time we cleaned the tanks and a few people swam, fished and scuba dived.

A nice lunch was served and it helped quell some of the sea sickness some were having. After lunch most just layed around on the deck and I just walked around looking for things to take photographs of.

The captain allowed me to climb the masts up to the whales tail to get some shots from above. It felt as though I was flying, being so high up above the ship. What a view.

I will have some pictures available soon, since I am presently out of the office at the moment and away from all the photographs and editing software. I will try to have some pictures real soon.

It was an honor to be invited to board her on her day long adventure. The owners are wonderful and my next interview I plan on asking for some time to capture their history with Atlantis II.

You can see the Atlantis II in the recently release X-men movie. She plays a US Coast Guard vessel which they had to mount a gun turret to the bow and paint her sides, but that is the Atlantis II. Sweet ride.

Larry

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The Atlantis II is available for Purchase. DETAILS

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