“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” Helen Keller. Written by Eric Loss – Skipper aboard Sea Dragon. photos by West Coast, Sea Dragon crew West Coast Crew Last Friday afternoon marked the unofficial end of our 2018 season, with the departure of our […]
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“Separately there was only wind, water, sail, and hull, but at my hand the four had been given purpose and direction.” Lowell Thomas Written & Photos by Ally Nobles – Deckhand aboard Sea Dragon. At sea for days, and the night air lightening with pending dawn. Wipe your […]
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The Pacific by Ally Nobles – Guest aboard Sea Dragon. Day 1/227 Hearing: Andrew Bird – Distant Stations I am living in a dream. Frigates swoop endlessly above. They never flap or flounder. A slight but unwavering breeze is comprisable to carry. The sun is also unforgiving here. — […]
Read Morequote by Jacques Cousteau By Cath Hough – Deckhand We’ve had calm nights, where the deep purr of the engine has rocked us to sleep; we’ve had rocky nights where you’re clenching your muscles every time we surf down a wave to stop yourself from falling out of bed! We’ve […]
Read MoreBy Ally Nobles Written on the white board in our galley this morning, this quote could not be truer than today. By lunch, we had completely lost all wind and were drifting slowly! So, we adjusted our sails, as well as ourselves, and took a swim in the stillness of […]
Read MoreBy Cath Hough eXXpedition – Barbados to St Lucia The first watch team arose before sunrise to lift the anchor and set sail to St Lucia. After an adventurous first sail, a few days before the ladies were hoping for a smoother downwind passage! We were greeted with a pleasant […]
Read MoreThe arrival of the new crew on board Sea Dragon, sees eXXpedition Caribbean get underway, for their 8-day island hop through the Caribbean. 8 glorious days of science, sea, stories and sunshine. Excited conversations, inspiring stories, laughter, happiness, and anticipation filled the air as eleven strong, powerful and inspiring women came together […]
Read MoreDiscussions on board have also centered on making visual the problems we are facing with plastics. This was further emphasized in the evening presentation by Maria, our other on-board artist. Maria shared with us pictures of her many dramatic sculptures and installations that capture the impact of humans on the environment. She has no shortage of creative raw materials and easily collects several bags of plastic daily from a small patch of beach.
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According to the UK Design Council, 80% of a product’s environmental impact is ‘locked in’ at the design stage. Take the humble toothbrush. Most of these apparently simple objects are made from three or four different kinds of plastics. For a toothbrush to be recycled, the different plastics would have to be separated, making toothbrush recycling, even were this technically feasible, an immediate non-starter financially. The toothbrush as a whole is a short-lived item, but actually, the only short-lived bit of it is the bristles in the head. The plastics in the handle will probably last upward of 450 years.
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Highlights of the trip so far have involved dolphins; Steph giving an excellent talk about her research with laptop slides on deck and dolphins arching in the background; and bioluminescent dolphins lighting up a dark night like waterborne fireworks. From our perspective, in many ways so out of our element, that there are creatures so at home in the sea seems amazing. Amazing and, inevitably, bittersweet to watch them leaping and sparkling given what we know about how we are changing their world.
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At this writing, I find myself at the Sea Dragon in the strait between Helsingborg and Elsinore. We had a stormy afternoon with heavy rain and strong winds, the feeling of the salty splash and strong winds are terrific.
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We disembarked Sea Dragon three days ago, and waved goodbye to the most beautiful of homes. Since then, I have woken religiously in the middle of the night and it’s taken me a good while to realise that no, I am no longer at sea. And with this comes a deep thwack of regret.
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