BlueTurtle Blog

We have received an email from Ron Ritter of Pangaea Explorations, that we should expect gale-force winds of up to 40 knots starting Sunday. So we have decided to speed up and sail in to Bermuda day earlier, instead of Monday as originally planned. Marcus and Anna were able to get few more trawls to complete the research for the first leg.

I just had to share these photos with you

Today at around 15:00 hours, just an hour after we went for a swim, we came across another windrow and this one was even worst then the first one. Plastic was everywhere and in everything. We could only pick up few larger pieces and take photos and videos but it was really sad looking at all that mess we have created.

Unfortunately, I don’t have enough photos of all that at this moment cause I was operating the camera so the footage is coming.

One thing I noticed in this windrow that I don’t remember seeing in the first one was millions of small tiny pieces suspended right below the surface, stretching for miles and miles. I wonder: how deep does it go and what is really made of? One can safely assume that some of that must be organic and can only hope that it is not plastic. However, all those large pieces that we picked up would eventually break down in to smaller polymers if left in the ocean, right?

This was one of the nicest days during the expedition by now, so we decided to take some time off and go for a swim in the open ocean. The water was incredibly calm and to my surprise, warm. The depth of the ocean at that location was approximately 5,000 meters (16,404 feet). There is something extra impressive and disturbing about that information. It was so beautiful and instead of completely enjoying and relaxing I just had to think about, what else but sharks! The water was clear and appeared to be free of pollution, which made me question if future generations will be able to see this too?

The winds picked up yesterday in the afternoon and lasted throughout the night so we were not able to trawl. We drifted too far off the course and it took hours to get back where we left off.

Today we came across our first windrow – basically a patch of trash combined with Sargassum (sea grass found all over the surface of the Sargasso Sea). Trash, mainly plastic, was everywhere! We picked up a few items and then proceeded northeast towards the edge of a possible accumulation zone. We got lucky with the weather during our windrow find but just minutes after, it started blowing at over 20 knots again. I think that today’s find proves that oceans plastic pollution is a global problem and is not limited or exclusive to the North Pacific.

It was fun watching the crew getting the sails up so we can get advantage of the wind to gain some ground.

So far, we found plastic in every trawl, however it appears that the situation is not as bad as it is in North Pacific. Of course, this is too early to argue since we are still far away from the center of the gyre, which is some 730 miles North East from Saint Thomas and some 230 miles east of Bermuda.

Just minutes after writing the above paragraph we caught something very interesting in our trawl. A jelly fish with a large piece of plastic in her belly! This is really a major concern because many sea creatures feed on jelly fish, so it ultimately ends up on our dinner plates. We have also encountered many large plastic pieces along the way.

We are expecting some bad weather later today.

There are so many things happening here every day on the boat, I wish I could clone myself so I could update this blog every hour or at least once every day. Unfortunately it’s not that easy from a sailboat in the middle of Atlantic. Beside the facts that we all have to work around the clock to get this boat moving, and that we lose our satellite connection while sending our photos and videos and still get charged an arm and a leg for each attempt, we also have to deal with the boat constantly moving and bouncing. I find it amazing how quickly we adapt to such conditions.

On the other hand, sailing the open seas in 30 knot winds is hard to describe with words. It is exhilarating, daring, fulfilling on so many levels and plain crazy. It is amazing to see a 45-ton boat bend like a tiny branch at the force of these winds, as well as to watch this mighty piece of equipment handle this kind of weather like it’s nothing.

The Atlantic Ocean appears to be almost never calm, even on a perfect day. We have seen the weather conditions change so quickly that is almost unbelievable. It can go from calm, perfect and sunny to a 30-knot windstorm in a matter of hours or less. Trawling is just simply not safe at those conditions.

Today we did two trawls and another one is on its way right now. Personally, I hoped that we would not find what we were looking for but we did. Both trawls produced number of small plastic particles.

We are using a device called Manta Trawl that is dragged on the surface level of the ocean for 3 hours straight at the speed of 1.5 knots per hour. At this point, we are only on the outskirts of the Sargosso Sea gyre. Today, we saw dozens of piece of larger plastic debris — flotsam — and were able to pick up one Styrofoam block that apparently came from some fishing gear. I am sure this not important information, but I was the one to spot the first flotsam on this voyage

We are slowly moving towards the center of the gyre. The first night, I got sea sick but I have been OK today. We have a guitar and two musicians on board. It is beautiful out here. This is going to be first time ever, since the invention of the Internet and mobile phones, that I am going to be completely without both of it for so long.

5 Gyres Project crew aboard the Sea Dragon off St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. Far left to right: Stiv Wilson, Leslie Moyer, Jon Howard, Ivan Martinetti, Marcus Eriksen, Anna Cummins, Steve Amato-Salvatierra, Clive Cosby–boat’s Skipper. Not pictured, first mate John Wright.

Today is a special day. I am on my way to US Virgin Islands to join 5 Gyres Expedition that was organized by Algalita, Pangaea Explorations and Livable Legacy. The expedition is going to be lead by two incredible individuals Marcus Eriksen and Anna Cummins. Some of the goals of the expedition are: proving to the world that North Pacific Gyre is not the only one that accumulates plastic, quantifying plastic on the surface of The Atlantic Ocean and understanding the effects of all that on marine life.

BlueTurtle is proud to be the Title Sponsor of 5 Gyres’ maiden expedition to the Atlantic Ocean to research marine pollution. We will follow the journey here.

BlueTurtle’s own Ivan Martinetti will be onboard reporting from the ship, adding to what is expected to be major media coverage. We will be uploading posts & images as they are available every few days.

The ship is currently docked in the main harbor of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, and is expected to depart the 8th of Jan for the Sargasso Sea area of the Atlantic. We will arrive in Bermuda on Sun., Jan. 17 and continue on to the Azores on Wed., Jan. 27.

BlueTurtle’s logo is featured prominently on the hull, mast and other areas of the 72-foot specially-equipped yacht, the Sea Dragon. Check it out!