During the past 6 days, we have successfully deployed our Multi-level Trawl 18 times and are doing test-runs of our new Sighting Survey app, which will be officially launched during the upcoming Mega Expedition. We plan to arrive at the Azores on the 13th of July with 363 ocean plastic samples, 13 happy people, and a finalized version of The Ocean Cleanup Survey App for both Apple and Android smartphones.
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The Ocean Cleanup: Plastic in the North Atlantic Gyre
On first impression, it seems possible to confirm the theory of a higher accumulation of plastic in the area called the center of the gyre. But only when all the samples have been processed in the Ocean Lab, and the results analyzed and discussed, will we be able to definitely confirm this theory. By the time this blog is posted, our team on the Sea Dragon will have already set sail in the direction of the Azores, where the boat and all the team will again reach safe land after having crossed the Atlantic Ocean collecting samples.
Read MoreThe Ocean Cleanup: Reaching the center of the North Atlantic Gyre
Lead Oceanographer for The Ocean Cleanup Foundation Julia Reisser wears a hat resembling the foil bags that trawl samples are stowed in for safe keeping. Written on her hat? Trawl 33, Net 11!
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The Ocean Cleanup: The illusion of emptiness in the ocean
Flying fish rush over the waves. First mate Shanley has spotted bioluminescence. We felt like we could almost touch the dolphins that briefly played around the boat. The emptiness is an illusion, that much is clear. There’s not just plastic in there, there’s life, there’s beauty. And this is what I think we came here for – life and beauty, to experience, and preserve.
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The Ocean Cleanup: Setting sail from Bermuda to Azores
We were soon back to routine sailing until about 1720 hours when Captain Eric spotted something large and white floating about 100M off the port bow. In addition to the trawl’s catch, we had been seeing mezzo-plastics (several cm-long), some larger, floating by all day but this object was big, coiled on itself like a great white serpent. Eric called out and immediately turned the boat toward the “thing” – we did not know what it was.
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Boyan Slat & Ocean Cleanup: Trawling in the North Atlantic Gyre
Today, with a now experienced crew and a comfortable 15 knot-wind, three back-to-back trawls were performed, each around an hour in length. Lots of millimetre to centimetre-sized particles were visible in the samples of the top few nets. Team member Francesco is currently working with some volunteers to clean the nets’ cod ends and prepare the samples for transportation.
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Boyan Slat & The Ocean Cleanup: Second day at sea
It’s our third day on board the Sea Dragon, our second day at sea. Most of us have never been on any type of sailboat, so the first and second day consisted of a lot of very basic training: how to pump the head, coil a rope, where all the supplies are kept. While still in the quiet harbor in Bermuda, we practiced putting the multi-level trawl in the water, each of us assigned a specific task, working as a team to ensure it was deployed safely.
Read MoreBack in Bermuda
When the Gibb’s Hill lighthouse blinked over the horizon last weekend a weight lifted off of all of our shoulders – we had made it! Sea Dragon is back in Bermuda for the 4th time in the last three years, and its beginning to feel a bit like we have […]
Read MoreGulf Stream: A Seasoned Seasickie
Something within is driving me to find that awe moment of sailing that I had experienced from my first ever sailing on the Corwith Kramer and the second trip with Sea Dragon around the Dominican Republic. Reaching these moments where I felt high off of life is much more rewarding when I had to work for it.
Read MoreGulf Stream: Reflections from Geoffrey Loss
The first one landed on board just after three in the morning. Its gossamer wings beating frantically against the rubber stucco deck, its eyes spinning crazily in their sockets. Gasping wetly at nothing. Its scales dripping with sea slime in our headlamps, shining dully in the baleful red shadows in the leaden night.
Read MoreGulf Stream: A Poem by Katie Jewett
Long-tail whitebirds swoop above us,
Container ships chug along,
The stars brighten and fade,
Bermuda, see you in not too long!
Writing at Sea – The Wonders of an Expedition
The wonders of this expedition add on, with each passing day and it becomes increasingly difficult for me to do a rating from 1-10. The star-canopied sky brings immense pleasure on Night Watch. Yesterday, Shanley, Ally and I spoke about the constellations. I tell them how my father taught my siblings and me, to identify the Great Bear, with its shape like a question mark. In India, we also call it the “Saptarishi,” or the Seven Sages with the little star, next to them, symbolic of the steadfast wife of one of them, Arundhati. At Hindu weddings, whatever the time of the day, the groom takes his bride out and points out to that star.
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