Deep-Water Dive Reveals Spilled Oil On Gulf Floor

When the BP oil well blew out earlier this year, the 4 million barrels that flowed into the sea didn't simply vanish. There's growing evidence that a good portion of it sunk to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, where some of it remains.

To get to the sea floor a few miles from the blown-out Macondo well, we clamber into a titanium-hulled submarine named Alvin and are gently hoisted off the deck of its mother ship, the Atlantis, into a surprisingly blue and inviting Gulf of Mexico. Mike Skowronski is our pilot.

As we descend, the water turns from bright blue to cobalt, twilight to black. Samantha Joye, a researcher from the University of Georgia, and I press our faces to our tiny windows and watch as glowing animal life streams by.

It's very peaceful.

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