Searching for Wonder Drugs in the Sea

MIAMI, July 12, 2006 — -- With a gentle thud, the Johnson-Sea-Link II submersible lands on the ocean floor in the middle of an underwater desert that seems more like the sands of Kuwait than those enchanted undersea scenes seen in the films of Jacques Cousteau.

Aboard the submersible are members of a Florida-based undersea research group, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, in the midst of a monthlong mission. With twice-daily dives in the submersible, scientists are scouring the sea floor in search of corals and sponges that will yield new chemical compounds for medical research.

The objective: the world's next wonder drug.

"We are on the bottom," the submersible's pilot, Don Liberatore, radios to the surface. "We are on the bottom at 1,063 feet. Temperature is 11 degrees Celsius."

I knew it would be black down here, but I did not expect it to be quite so bleak.

With the submersible's exterior lights on high, we can see about 40 feet in front of us. There is nothing but sand. No fish. No coral. No rocks.

From the rear compartment, scientist Amy Wright speaks into our headsets. This is not the terrain she is looking for. We need to get to the mountain range.

The destination: the Miami Terrace. If the name conjures up images of some 1950s nightclub with Frank Sinatra crooning on the stage, think again. The Miami Terrace is a 40-mile-long underwater mountain range that stretches from Boca Raton to Miami's Key Biscayne.

It is incredible to think that we are just 15 miles off the coast of Fort Lauderdale in terrain that humans have only now begun to explore. But when you realize that 70 percent of Earth's surface is covered by oceans and the only way to explore these depths is in a military submarine or scientific submersible like this, you begin to understand why.

With its bulbous five-inch-thick Plexiglas bubble and two two-person compartments, the Johnson-Sea-Link II looks more like an underwater traffic helicopter -- or a bug -- than a conventional military submarine.

It is operated by the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, a research center based in Fort Pierce, Fla. These crafts cost millions of dollars to operate, which is why there are only a half dozen scientific organizations in the world with submersibles like this.

Hovering on the ocean surface 1,063 feet above is the R/V Seward Johnson. The 204-foot-long, 40-passenger research vessel doubles as a mother ship for the submersible and a floating scientific lab.