Unable to sail directly east because of the prevailing winds,
they were forced south and into the area of the South Pacific
known then as the Desolate Region.
A vast, uncharted, windless ocean the size of Australia.
These beautiful blue waters are the clearest in the world.
But they are a watery desert, clear and blue
because there is so little plankton,
the key to all marine food chains.
Plankton need nutrients,
but most nutrients are locked in the deep,
denied access to the surface by a layer of water called the thermocline,
around 200 metres down.
The little life that does exist at the surface seeks shelter,
no matter how superficial it may be.
In time, whole communities build on the flotsam. Barnacle larvae settle,
along with miniature predators.
Frogfish. On just a piece of drifting rope,
tiny creatures may spend their entire lives.