The Into the Deep: Monsoon Rise Expedition (7–28 October 2025) was jointly led by the National University of Singapore (NUS) and OceanX to explore deep-sea biodiversity and ecosystems in the previously uncharted waters of Monsoon Rise, a seamount complex in the eastern Indian Ocean. This mission united scientists from across ASEAN and the South Pacific, including Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Fiji. 

It has been over a month since the team came back. We decided to have a quick check-in with them to hear more about their experiences during the expedition! 

 

Question: What did you enjoy most on the expedition?  

“This was my first deep sea and seamounts expedition, so it has been a very valuable and precious journey. I’m glad I could join because I got first-hand learning experience on how to organise and conduct an expedition with people from different backgrounds, different research interests, different personalities, and how to work together towards the same purpose.” – Dr Conni Sidabalok, National Research and Innovation Agency (Indonesia) 

 

 

“Sometimes we’d sit in the mess or in the ROV mission control room, and as I watched the screens I’d also watch everyone in the room, from the ROV divers to the crew to our team at NUS and the international scientists and I’d just be like, ‘wow, this is possible’. The hope for the future of our oceans is in great hands now because you have people always wanting to make things better.” – Ms Tyler-Rae Chung, Social Empowerment Education Program (Fiji) 

 

 

“Two things: firstly, the collaboration between the marine scientists from different fields of work, who came together to share the experience and ponder the most effective way to collect the data. I really appreciated the support from the OceanX team for helping us deploy our equipment and map the area that we study. Secondly, food.” – Dr Teerapong Duangdee, Kasetsart University (Thailand) 

 

 

“The galley team (head chef and two sous chefs) were tremendous, for churning out all three main meals with precision; and serving [their] own baked breads and cakes. We were served mainly western food. Hopefully, they take on a Thai sous chef next.” – Dr Tan Heok Hui, National University of Singapore 

 

Question: Did you get seasick? If yes, what was your remedy? 

“I suffered many days from seasickness, consuming 3–4 doses of seasick pills daily. Despite the pills, I still had waves of nausea, loss of appetite and did not realise I miss Singaporean food so much… Despite the seasickness, all the research tasks were still performed, including some stomach-churning ones. Thawing and fermenting oily sea fish and then using them for bait in the landers is not to be forgotten readily.” – Dr Tan Heok Hui, National University of Singapore 

 

 

“No, fortunately I had my ‘fisherman pills’ from New Zealand which kept me sea-sick free for the trip! But I was talking to the captain, and he said that he thought the best sea sickness remedy was to ‘leave out a can of Coca Cola and then drink it when it is flat’.” – Dr Allison Miller, National University of Singapore 

 

Question: Did any animal catch your eye? 

“The giant scaleworm! I’m very excited to work on the specimen and other scaleworms from the expedition together with Cheah Hoay (a fellow researcher from the expedition, who also specialises in polychaetes). Also, the symbiont myzostomids on the crinoid feather stars! I’ve never seen live specimens of myzostomids before, so this was very exciting for me.” – Ms Tashfia Raquib, National University of Singapore 

 

 

 

“All of the specimens we collected are very cool to me, but I was particularly excited that we were able to observe and collect some stalked crinoids using the ROV. I was hoping to find some during this expedition, so I was particularly thrilled to see them standing elegantly on the deep ocean floor. I think their common name ‘sea lily’ is very fitting.” – Dr Jing Hui Ong, National University of Singapore 

 

 

“On the last ROV dive, there was a squid at the side of the ROV which I think could have been a Dana octopus squid. At first, we saw just the eyes from afar, before it suddenly came into view. And it had two arms with photophores that flashed with bioluminescence. It was so cool!” – Ms Natasha Tay, National University of Singapore 

 

 

Question: What’s one thing you learned from the expedition? 

“How hardy/resilient some animals can be. I was amazed there were some animals that could stay alive and respond even long after they were collected from a few thousand metres deep, especially soft-bodied organisms like jellyfish, so long as you keep them in the right conditions.” – Ms Tashfia Raquib, National University of Singapore 

 

“Here’s something interesting I learnt that was unexpected and unplanned for: You may have heard by now that we had lost some of our equipment during deployment, where they had dropped off the winch wire onto the (deep!) sea floor, but we were luckily able to retrieve them back using the ROV. Observing and learning how the skilled ROV pilots carry out such ‘search and rescue’ dives to successfully and efficiently find our equipment was very fascinating to me.” – Dr Jing Hui Ong, National University of Singapore 

 

 

“Never put an angry large crab into an ROV biobox with a sea cucumber in it!” – Dr Allison Miller, National University of Singapore 

 

 

“As this was my first expedition, everything was new to me, from the different equipment used to collect different samples, how to modify the lander traps, how to set the workflow with all the scientists when receiving specimens from ROV or lander, how to combat seasickness or how the ROV and submarine pilots maintain and maneuver their respective machines. But I think most important of all, is always expect things to go wrong and be prepared with a plan B, C or D.” – Ms Natasha Tay, National University of Singapore 

 

“I was amazed with the [OceanX] crew because they were able to continuously come up with technical solutions that fulfilled our scientific demands, allowing us to sample organisms at 5000 meters deep.” – Dr Ni Kadek Dita Cahyani, Diponegoro University (Indonesia) 

 

 

 

Question: [Speaking to the ASEAN scientists who went on-board] How will you share what you have learned with scientists in your home country?  

 

 

“I learned a lot about how expeditions are conducted, and how Singapore and the Museum lead projects to find new specimens and bring scientists together from all over the region. That is the thing I really want to bring back to the people in my university, so we can develop the museum and projects in Vietnam.”

– Dr Thanh Son Nguyen, Vietnam National University (Vietnam) 

 

 

 

 

 

“I definitely want to share photos and videos with my coworkers. I hope that it will garner interest from my coworkers and institution to support this kind of collaboration and research in the future.”

– Dr Conni Sidabalok, National Research and Innovation Agency (Indonesia) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“As a lecturer, I’ll share what I learned with my students and in my lectures. This is only the beginning, as we’re just starting to analyse the data. I’m excited to continue my research.”

– Dr Ni Kadek Dita Cahyani, Diponegoro University (Indonesia) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Until now, marine science research in Thailand has only focused on shallow waters. When I’m back in Thailand, I’d like to share my experiences from this expedition, particularly with regards to survey design and the usage of deep-sea research equipment, so we can prepare for an opportunity to study the deep sea in Thailand’s maritime territories. I also want to apply this experience for my teaching activities.”

– Dr Teerapong Duangdee, Kasetsart University (Thailand) 

 

 

 

 

 

“I’m looking forward to sharing this knowledge back at home and just really being enthusiastic about the knowledge that I learned here. Hopefully I can encourage my government and Fiji that this is something that’s possible for us in the Pacific as well. I’ll be writing reports and speaking with key stakeholders to try and get this message out on ocean exploration and international collaboration.”

– Ms Tyler-Rae Chung, Social Empowerment Education Program (Fiji) 

 

 

 

 

Image credit: OceanX