Position: 29°11.9 North 170°35.2 East “It’s a whale” yells Tracey from above deck. I’m eating humus below in the salon with Dani, after forgoing Kelvin’s lunch of fried Kim Chi with rice and seaweed. Wildlife sightings are like breaking news aboard Sea Dragon, sometimes the only demarcation from one day […]
Read MorePost Tagged with: "plastic pollution"
Trawling for pseudo-fish eggs
When Macro becomes micro the impact of plastic pollution shifts from being an eyesore for humans to an intestinal sore for fish. The greatest migration on the planet is not the seasonal movements of wildebeest across Africa or Canada geese over North America, but the nightly mad rush of millions […]
Read MoreBird In The Hand And A Brief Respite
Day four out and we’re still soaked. The wind has finally subsided to a manageable 15-20 knots,at times we’re even nearly becalmed. But last night we had 30 knots plus, sometimes close to 40 which made for several sail changes through the night. Reef 3, Reef 1, Stay sail down, […]
Read MoreChasing A Tsunami, Following a Typhoon, It’s On Baby.
Our expeditions are kind of like summer camp for plastic nerds. Yes, we have real research to conduct, but that doesn’t make us any less nerdy. And if there is one thing all the partners who brought this voyage to life, Algalita, 5 Gyres, and Pangaea Explorations are at heart, […]
Read MoreMeet the Crew–Leg 2 Asia Pacific Expedition
Marcus Eriksen – Research Expedition Leader Marcus Eriksen received his Ph.D. in Science Education from University of Southern California in 2003, months before embarking on a 2000-mile, 5-month journey down the Mississippi River on a homemade raft. His experience on the river led to a career studying the ecological impacts […]
Read MoreVolunteering in Fukushima-
Hi everyone, 8 of us traveled north of Fukushima to volunteer with a relief organization. We helped an 80 yr. old woman by shoveling 5 tons of rock away from the back of her house. We spent the night, then rented a car to drive further north to visit some […]
Read MoreFrom our captain on the Sea Dragon…
Our position at 20:00 GMT today is 26 47 N, 150 21.4. Our heading is 310 Mag, and winds are less than 10 knots from the South. It has been light fot the past few days so we have been sailing slow or motoring with sails up at times to […]
Read More“There’s an Masked Booby sitting on top of it,” Cynthia says
25.13N, 153.56E May 14th The New Reef “Net ball!” Hank yelled. It turns out to be a 500lb ball of netting, rope and line from over 80 sources, all different, and fragments of commercial products, including 3 toothbushes, 1 cigarette lighter and two plastic straws. The bulk of these, and […]
Read MoreUpdate from the Sea Dragon’s crew-What does a garbage patch look like?
Today the Expedition crew encountered some big plastic garbage northwest of the the Marshalls (click here to see the position of where it was found– zoom out to get landmass context) These pictures just came through on email from our team at sea just a few moments ago (15:04 PST) […]
Read MoreA Beach Without Plastic Pollution is Hard to Find
Half of the South Pacific Gyre Expedition Team took a trip to Neibla, Chile to see the sea. We are two days away from venturing into the South Pacific Subtropical Gyre, the last of the unexplored 5 subtropical gyres in the world. On the bus we were all talking about […]
Read MoreStranded on Ascension Island
We’ve landed safely on Ascension Island – all the crew were pleased to see land and a cold beer after thirteen days at sea. The last 72 hours of the voyage were rough as we were close hauled, heading almost straight into the swell. Two miles off the anchorage at Georgetown […]
Read MoreA Whale Swims Through Our Stain: Plastic Everywhere Enroute To Ascension.
A whale breaches a mile away, blowing just below the surface before descending back to the depths, rolling forward raising its tail flukes then repeating the performance as we part-company. As we continue our research mission heading for Ascension Island, the whale continues his life living and feeding in […]
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