The adventure continues…
By Kat Law – Deckhand
As we passed through the final lock, we were all sad to be leaving the canal and its calm beauty, but excited to get more sailing underway! We were blessed with calmer weather than previous trips and so the crew managed to get fully involved with the sailing and science without the hindrance of seasickness. In fact, the tensest part of the trip was clearing the bridge upon exiting the canal, the top of the mast and the bottom of the bridge were close, to say the least. After a dramatic exit from the canal, it was plain sailing all the way to Edinburgh.
It was a busy program in Edinburgh with the entire crew getting involved in the activities including a visit to the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood. There was also plenty of work being done on Sea Dragon to prepare her for the next voyage to London. However, we managed to get some rest to see the sights of Edinburgh, unfortunately, my ascent up Arthur’s seat was mistakenly on the wrong path which was considered dangerous. Thankfully I survived that ordeal to make it back to Sea Dragon in one piece. Having said our goodbyes to the old crew we welcomed the new batch and prepared to set sail early the next morning.
Despite having light and variable winds predicted we had two absolutely perfect sailing days of 15-20 knots complimented by glorious sunshine during the day and starry skies at night. The new crew relished the opportunity to sail Sea Dragon in these conditions and bonded quickly.
We also had success in being able to hook up the microscope to the tv to examine our findings from the manta trawl. It was exciting to finally see the results of our hard work and hopefully, we can use these images to help further raise awareness of the damage that plastics are causing the ocean.
That evening we excitedly began our passage up the Thames which encompassed some difficult night pilotage as we had to negotiate the different channels. There were so many different buoys flashing various colours that we thought there was a disco going on as we made our way up the river.
We arrived at tower bridge at 10 am which was a nostalgic moment for myself as I had gone under the bridge 2 years ago, to the day, as part of the start of my global circumnavigation. It was also very special for the crew, particularly the Londoners. After our second crossing under the bridge, halting London’s busy traffic, we made fast at our mooring at Hermitage and await our final passage into Plymouth.
