Marine Biologists and graduate students from four different institutions participated in a 12-day research cruise in the Northern Bahamas Islands. Using a Johnson-Sea-Link submersible capable of diving to 3000 ft. (nearly 1000 m), they explored the island slopes, collecting deep-water sea urchins, starfish and other animals. The microscopic larvae (babies) of these animals were studied to determine what they eat and how they feed while they swim for months in the dark waters of the deep ocean.

The Sea-Link submersible is carried and launched by a research ship, the R/V Seward Johnson, which has a home port at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution in Ft. Pierce, Florida. The scientists and their students sailed from Ft. Pierce early in the morning on May 13. After steaming a short distance down the Indian River Lagoon, they left Ft. Pierce Inlet and embarked on an all-day transit across the Straits of Florida and the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas. The ship cleared Bahamian customs at West End, on Grand Bahama Island sometime in the evening of May 13. The expedition then turned southeast, arriving at New Providence Island for the first submersible dive on the morning of May 14.

The exact itinerary of the ship was determined by the success of various science objectives, but the tentative plan was to work for several days in the Tongue of the Ocean and several more days in the New Providence Channels. Sites originally planed to dive included deep waters off Paradise Island, Goulding Cay, Andros Island, Chub Cay, Green Cay, Egg Island, Abaco Island and the Big Bahama Bank.

The scientists planned for two submersible dives each day. Much of the work, however, was done in the shipboard laboratories. Scientists collected water samples and environmental data with a CTD rosette that was lowered into deep water with a cable. The water samples taken at various depths were analyzed for microscopic organisms, cyanobacteria and bacteria, that might serve as food for larval forms. They also used a computer-controlled net system called MOCNESS for collecting the microscopic larvae and other animals from various depths.

The ship was scheduled for a brief port call in Nassau half-way through the expedition. It returned to port in Florida on May 24.