From possibly one of the deepest recorded sightings of a Mola mola to sharing what life is like on board the EV Nautilus as a video engineer intern, our latest Instagram takeover is by Samantha-Lynn Martinez. Read below to catch up with her trip to American Samoa!

We are just over halfway done with our E/V Nautilus Expedition in American Samoa (see their Instagram here)! I joined the NA165 leg as a video engineer intern, and let’s just say that I’ve gotten to do a lot more than I expected!

ICYMI: I did a takeover on the UW Marine Biology stories for a few days to answer some questions about the program and expedition objectives! If you missed the takeover, check out the E/V Nautilus highlight @samanthalynnm_ and to see it all so far! Feel free to follow along on my account to see what happens for the rest of the expedition

Some of my favorite moments so far:

Filmed some cool critters and places including 📽️…

… possibly one of the deepest recorded video sightings of a Mola mola!

… hydrothermal vents at Vailulu’u Seamount 🌋

… a pair of thresher sharks and oceanic white tip sharks 🦈

… chaunacops fish!!!

Had some close encounters with…

… a pair of Humpback Whales during one of our transit nights 🐋

… SO MANY video and network cables 🫨

… ship-to-shore interactions with robotics groups and classes all the way from the US 📽️

… deep sea rocks! I got to cut one open and develop slabs for processing 🪨🌊

… very cool people from around the world who are ridiculously passionate about what they do! I’ve loved getting to know every person on board and see how they’ve gotten to this point in their careers

Feeling endlessly grateful for this opportunity! It’s been a long time coming :,)

Interested in more information plus insight into the things I’ve filmed while on board?

• Things I’ve filmed while on board!
  • Pillow Basalt
  • Mola Mola
  • Boiling Bubbles
  • Chaunacops Fish
• Nautilus NA165 Information Page
• Nautilus Internship Program
• Nautilus Science Communication Fellowship