In late 1997, the Jason Project will be taking to the crystal blue waters off Bermuda and project founder Dr. Robert Ballard wants you along for the ride.

"We want to bring Bermuda to the rest of the world,'' the internationally acclaimed oceanographer who, alongside Dr. Tony Knap of the Bermuda Biological Station for Research, announced the project at an afternoon press conference on Friday.

Founded in 1988, the Jason Project has since introduced hundreds of thousands of students and teachers worldwide to the physical and technological marvels of undersea exploration.

Already some 3000 Bermudian students have had the opportunity to join in real-time exploration via satellite uplinks, fibre optics, and a primary interactive network (PIN) site located at the biology station on Ferry Reach Road.

"Real time is what it's all about,'' Dr. Knap told The Royal Gazette , who said the Jason Project is already looking ahead to new technological adventures.

He envisages the project becoming year-round, staying on the cutting edge of technology by using remote camera sites -- either stationary or remotely manipulated -- which will act as eyes for students (and adults) in some of the world's vast aquatic frontiers.

Students in the not-too-distant classroom he said, will then be able to observe or participate through the Internet or cable TV. "The technology's already there,'' he added.

Jason's upcoming Bermuda project will likely begin in October or November next year, studying the relationship between sunlight and its effect on the reef environment.

Students will be able to observe how -- through photosynthesis -- the coral environment is sustained along Bermuda's shallow volcanic platform.

From there Jason will move to Monterey Bay, California, where at a depths ranging from 500-1500 metres, remotely operated submersibles will explore what Dr. Knap terms "a transition site.'' The project then heads to the Guyamus Basin off Mexico to study life around deep-sea vents where sea worms, bacteria, and other creatures -- in the absence of sunlight -- have adapted using chemosynthesis.

By May of 1998, the project will be back in Bermuda waters, possibly to study cave environments or sargasso environments, said Dr. Knap.

Local support for the project has come from Government and Cable and Wireless.

Cable and Wireless spokesman John Instone told The Royal Gazette the partnership is a natural.

"We've been involved with the Jason Project for the last four years or so.

It's not an entirely altruistic venture. Right now all our staff of technicians and engineers are Bermudian. We have an opportunity to reach out to younger Bermudians, to build on that base and the Jason Project is one of the best ways to do that.'' Cable and Wireless has, and will continue to supply into 1997 technical assistance at the project's PIN site at the Bermuda Biological Station.

"When there's something going on with the Jason project we can't get our staff away from there,'' he added.