Search for the Loch Ness Monster
High-resolution AUV mapping of Urquhart Bay during the Loch Ness Experience's Quest 2026.
The Quest
Every year the Loch Ness Experience in Drumnadrochit hosts the Quest, a search that draws believers, skeptics and the simply curious to the shores of Scotland's most famous loch. For Quest 2026, the Loch Ness Experience partnered with Deep Sea Vision to take the search below the surface.
During the late-May event, Deep Sea Vision deployed Micro Millie, an autonomous underwater vehicle that uses advanced sensors and autonomous programming to map the bed of the loch in unprecedented detail.
Mapping Urquhart Bay
The team focused on Urquhart Bay, chosen for its varied underwater terrain, its proximity to Urquhart Castle and its reputation as a hotspot for recent reported sightings.
Existing maps of Loch Ness resolve the loch bed to roughly 5 to 10 meters, and only about 2 to 3 percent of the loch's 56 square kilometers has been mapped to high-resolution standards. Micro Millie captures detail at the centimeter scale.
Micro Millie allows us to capture extremely detailed images of the loch bed, revealing features that traditional survey methods cannot resolve.
Beyond the Legend
Nessie did not make an appearance, but the survey's real aim was scientific: to fill gaps in the loch's mapping, better understand its habitats and geological features, and trial AUV operations in a challenging freshwater environment.
