an area the size of poland. this trip, this really has so many meanings. a lot of people are looking at the ocean shield as our last hope to solving one of the greatest mysteries in modern aviation. we are no closer today to zeroing in on where the wreckage might be. i was wondering what it was like out there? we hear how rough the seas are. tell us about that. >> reporter: here in covert sound where we are, the weather conditions are pretty good. water that's 100 feet deep, light waves. you get out on the indian ocean, specially when you get out to where this is, you have waves that are several stories high. the depth of the ocean goes down up to 16,000 feet. it is about 14,000 feet in the search area. that's incredibly deep. this is a mountainous, mountainous ocean floor, some of