Journey to the Center of the Trash

Journey to the Center of the Trash preview

dwheeler@scubadrewvideo.com (Drew Wheeler) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 01:24:00 +0000

Here is a little preview of what is yet to come from the video I shot during my 2 month voyage.
Enjoy!

www.trashvoyage.com

dwheeler@scubadrewvideo.com (Drew Wheeler) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 05:29:00 +0000

As I edit and put together the stories of my Journey, I have been having some great dives and even saw my first box jellyfish..so check out this quick video I made of some of the cool things I have seen over the last 2 months.

Still grinding away

dwheeler@scubadrewvideo.com (Drew Wheeler) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 06:05:00 +0000

As I get back into conducting dive tours and shooting underwater video, I am now struggling to find the time to get the ball rolling regarding the video segments. I finished up the taped interview for GMA, and am continuing the conversion process for the video from the voyage. Soon I will begin posting video updates, providing I can learn the new software fast enough.
In the meantime here is a pic from a recent dive.

Now its time to spread the word

dwheeler@scubadrewvideo.com (Drew Wheeler) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 01:16:00 +0000

As the news coverage begins, I will keep everyone in the loop. Sorry this has taken so long, but it has taken longer than expected to readjust back to normal life.

Day 54......Home at last

dwheeler@scubadrewvideo.com (Drew Wheeler) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 16:24:00 +0000

August 3, 2009
21 Deg 17'29 N
157 Deg 51'21 W
Almost 7,000 miles traveled

ALOHA!!!!! I arrived back on Oahu on Friday the 31st and I needed a day or 2 to decompress, but I am home at last. We pulled into Ala Wai fuel dock about 8:30 am on a rainy morning, where I jumped off into the arms of my very happy wife! This two month journey was taxing on both of us in so many ways. I was pretty much an emotional wreck!!! I realized as I saw her standing on the dock with open arms that we had never spent that much time apart in almost 14 years.

The return was not without drama...
Christaina had a flight to catch at 8 am so she could make back to LA in time to catch another flight to Greece. We realized we would not make it to Honolulu in time so we dropped her at Ko'olina at 6:30am where a cab awaited and took her to the airport. We learned later that she made her flight by the skin of her teeth!!!!

So now the next phase of this project begins, so I will be attacking the video....all 35 tapes and 300 GBs on three hard drives. So as we filter through hours and hours of footage, we will be posting pictures and other stuff that I was unable to post before, due to limitations of the satellite data transfer issues from the boat. So stay tuned for lots more stories, video clips and photos that we will continue to post as Jamie and I begin the work on the many projects we have planned (Documentary, Educational programing, Children's book, etc) from my amazing adventure from the Voyage to the Center of the Trash!!!!!

But the first thing we have happening is our media conference day on August 3rd from 10am - Noon. Anyone can come down to the boat at Kewalo Basin to talk with the Captain and crew and see what we collected on our nearly 7000 mile trip! Just look for this boat, The Alguita. Hope to see you there.

So till our next blog, this is my wife's favorite picture so far......
Me standing on the dock as the ORV Alguita sails away!!!!!!!

Day 51...Final Push!!!!!!

dwheeler@scubadrewvideo.com (Drew Wheeler) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 23:51:00 +0000

July 30, 2009
Position: 22 55.05N, 159 07.70W
6714 miles traveled.

With less than 200 miles to Honolulu, we are in the final stretch of the 2009 ORV Alguita Dateline Journey and everyone of the crew can now reflect on what they have experienced and the knowledge they have gained.

Personally, I have learned several things on this voyage, some related to the mission of substantiating the vast amounts of plastic in the ocean and others just related to life. You can’t spend over 50 days on a 50 ft boat with 5 other people and come away entirely the same person!

This journey has allowed me to experience everything from the bewilderment and amazement of swimming among the alien life forms that exists and thrives in the most remote location on the planet. To the sadness and anger I feel when I see, first hand, what we are doing to that "life" that almost every human being will never lay their eyes upon.

The increase in plastic that I observed from the 2002 voyage to now is frightening. In just seven years, it seemed to me that everywhere we went has become a “high accumulation zone”. The amount of tiny fragments and small bits of plastic that I collected or witnessed as it floated past the boat and also in the trawl samples on any given day was flat out disgusting. Then add that to plastic material I saw in the water intermixed with the billions of planktonic life and you don’t need to have a scientific study to tell me that it is a serious problem that ultimately will affect all life on this planet. There is NO WAY a passive plankton feeder can filter out the plastic lingering among it’s food supply.

My conclusion is that we must stop this from getting worse by reducing or eliminating the use of non biodegradable plastic for disposable products and product packaging. If the increasing rate of plastic in the ocean does not change, then I do not see how we can avoid catastrophic changes in the health of our marine ecosystem regarding the sustainability to and for human life......
Now that is something to think about!!!!!!

Day 46...6,000 miles traveled!!!!!

dwheeler@scubadrewvideo.com (Drew Wheeler) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 02:23:00 +0000

July 26
51.41N, 158 28.59W
Heading 155 deg.
Speed 6.5 knots

Miles traveled = almost half way around the world or at least it feels that way.....6000 miles as of 10:30 am HST

After 2 very windy nights of some tough sailing, 30 knot consistant wind with gusts up to 50 kts on a couple occasions, we have sailed out of the low pressure and into milder conditions. Personally, I experience one of the toughest nights on watch I have ever had. Currently we are motoring to get through to the Trade winds, hopefully! They will take us the remainder of the way to Hawaii....Home!!!!

I went to the bow this morning and still saw debris floating by within the first minute, so nothing has changed on the that issue! No matter where we have gone on this trip, I have seen and collected plastic pieces and fragments. There is no "central" place to find the plastic debris, as it seem to be on the 2002 voyage. We have conducted 42 trawls over the course of 6,000 miles and not one sample has been plastic free. The plastic is everywhere! I think one of the best ways to describe the problem is this.....

It is not an "island" as some have reported or even a garbage "patch" of plastic polluting the Gyre, it is the entire Pacific that is infected with billions and billions of tiny plastic fragments and larger pieces that are each unto themselves a "patch or island", depending on how you look at it. Each piece and fragment floating at the mercy of the winds and ocean currents. All the while looking more and more like food sources for thousands of life forms as the plastic breaks down with each passing day. Making it's way up the food chain...into the sea creatures we eat!!! I say again "Would you like a side of Polyethylene with that tuna sandwich?"!!!!

Another aspect of the harm from the debris is collisions. We are not sure, but we believe we may have hit something during the tough weather we experienced for almost three days (consent 25 knot wind and 10 ft seas). Makes complete sense to me, due to how much debris we see when the water is calm and how many buoys and other large discarded objects we have run over directly during this voyage without changing course. We even hit a wooden wire spool before we pulled it on board a few days back...and we were trying to avoid it.

Yes this experience has affected me greatly in so many ways. So much that I need some time to figure out exactly how, but I know I need to get the word out to as many people as possible about what I have seen and experienced. To let everyone know what is happening to our Oceans! This issue is just too important!!!! And is getting worst very day, every second as long as we don't change our "consumer" use of plastics. There are alternatives!!! Please check out Plastic Free Haleiwa's website for excellent ideas and ways you can help in becoming "Plastic free"!!!! Be part of the solution!!!!!

Day 43..........DAY 43!!!!!!!!!

dwheeler@scubadrewvideo.com (Drew Wheeler) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 23:11:00 +0000

July 23, 2009
37 59.80N, 169 08.29W
5400 miiles traveled

With the wind picked up and the Alguita tracking southeast to Honolulu, we put the trawls away and the collection nets up and geared up for a potential bumpy ride home. Although I need to mention that even in these windy rough seas, I still see plastic debris passing the boat all the time!

A couple of days ago we had a "close pass" by a large container ship. SO close we could see the guys checking us out with binoculars. So we waved to them and got a friendly wave back...probably wondering what we were doing way out here!!!!

I felt kind of silly for getting so excited over another boat....but hey there were other humans on it!!!!

We did have a few more moments of drama yesterday when we snagged another Black Footed Albatross. Joel performed minor surgery to remove the hook from its neck. But then when he released it, it promptly got snagged in the other line!!! I don’t know who was dumber.....the bird for flying right into the 2nd line and getting snagged again or us for leaving it out!

We also had to say goodbye to the beloved red and green spinnaker. While hand steering in some gusty winds, the halyard broke and the chute fell in front of the port bow. Only to be efficiently shredded by the hull and force of the water. Sadly I packed the soaked and torn rocket sail in the bag for the last time, on this trip anyway. I don’t know if it can be repaired, I have seen chutes ripped "beyond" repair before and this looks worse.
Kind of sad…I put some of my heart into that spinnaker with a few of latest patches it needed, before it's demise! Plus we used that sail during the 2002 voyage I was on! The Captain plans to fix it in Hawaii, so I guess it’s not done yet!

So as we head home with Main and Genoa sails, again I am thinking back on everything over the last 2 months. One of the things that I find myself directly reflecting upon is the thanks I owe to all those that made this possible for me for me to take this journey!!! So I would like to personally thank the following: Light and Motion underwater systems, Reef Photo, Joe Green and Surf and Sea in Haleiwa, Chef Duff and the Charm City Cakes crew and Mr & Mrs Fred Stalder (my very supportive in-laws). Now I cannot forget the boyz and music of Oahu’s own “Sheriff Brown” and my oldest son Ryan's band from Monterey, “Beezle” …both have CD’s coming out and Beezle's music can now be found on iTunes (congrats Ry)!!!! Having both band's music on my iPod has made this trip a lot easier for me...a little bit of "home" playing in my ears!!!!!

But the 2 unsung heros in this story are my wife Jamie, who has taken on everything from holding down the home front to filling for me at my job with the Hui Malama O Pupukea Waimea Makai Watch group and editing and posting all my blog entries. Also my web manager Kirsten Bluehdorn at Alphabytes who has created and maintained the entire trashvoyage.com site....along with covering my dive instructor commitments at Surf & Sea!!! Both of these women deserve thanks and credit for making it possible for all of you to enjoy these stories and adventures that I have had over this last 2 months. Many Mahalos to those two amazing women!!!!

So as we secure everything on deck for our straight sail home (I hope).......

I realize now it is up to me to take what I have seen, learned and experienced and tell it to the world because we can't afford to let what is happening to our Oceans continue anymore! That is my quest, my reason for all of this!

Day 38 A dolphin encounter unlike any other!

dwheeler@scubadrewvideo.com (Drew Wheeler) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 16:34:00 +0000

July 18, 2009 D
Position = 39 12.73N, 179 51.64W
Miles traveled = 4735
Heading = 045

As a SCUBA instructor for Surf and Sea in Haleiwa Oahu, I do get periodic times to swim with Hawaii’s favorite spinner dolphin, I have even had the opportunity to see bottlenose dolphin. Be it all of these encounters were wonderful and exciting in their own right, nothing prepared me for what I experienced last night.

After my usual 2 am wakeup call from Jeff to begin my night watch on another night of motoring through a windless calm at about 4 knots, I noticed an unusual glow coming from the water off of the stern of the boat. I quickly realized that the green column of water trailing the boat for about 100 ft was the bioluminescence resulting from the port engine propeller.
Bioluminescence is the glowing green light emitted by a reaction within certain planktonic organisms, when their surrounding water is disturbed. Unless you are on a boat at night in plankton rich water, the next best way to see an example of bioluminescence is to swim, snorkel or dive at night, then turn off your lights and move your hand back and forth through the water. You should see some tiny green swirling lights around your hand. The more plankton in the water, the more lights emitted.

Well the waters out here are so rich with plankton, that when Jeff told me I should see the bioluminescence from the bow, I was astounded at what I saw. The catamaran left 2 bright glowing green waves and green swirling lines that followed the bow wake pattern. All the while, bright green bursts could be seen as larger sources of bioluminescence were triggered by the pressure wave in the water. The sound waves of the engine would trigger the reaction in the larger pelagic planktonic organisms deeper and further ahead of the boat, so they would “light up” as we approached. The waveless, windless night combined with a vantage point less than 3 feet from the water’s surface made this a once in a lifetime occasion for me.

I decided to take my camera and a cushion to lie on and see if I could capture this incredible visual spectacle on videotape.
Well as any digital videographer can tell you…yeah right! Although the Sony SR11 donated by Reef Photo, is great for the underwater video application, there is no consumer camera with that capability to record what I was seeing.

After 10 minutes of just gazing at this phenomenon, I was suddenly startled as 2 large green streaks shot from beneath the boat, between the hulls and splashed to the surface right in front of me, then split to either side of the boat. Three more streaks shot in from port side and I could see clearly through the water that unmistakable shape...Dolphin!

The only way I could describe it was the dance of the sugar plum fairies out of the movie Fantasia, only with dolphin making the trails. I could watch them go deep and the green glow would get dim and then get brighter and brighter as they got close to the surface again...then splash they would break the surface. The shape was created by the glowing green bioluminescence generated as the graceful swimming machine moved through the water.

It was like watching an animated movie with special effects…it was surreal!!!! I could clearly see the details of each animal as it swam under my nose just out of arms reach. Tails, fins, body, were all clearly visible with the green outline through the clear calm water. Within seconds I had 10 to 12 dolphin doing what dolphins do….playing in the wake of a boat. The dolphin kept shooting in from the sides, darting up from the deep, two or three at a time, swirling in front of my face, each with its own green silhouette and ocean meteor trail extending at times, up to 20ft behind each powerful tail.

For only the second time in my life, my breath was actually taken away. I sat for what must have been 5 minutes in complete amazement by the visual ballet being performed just for me. With tears building up, I thought this is not fair that my wife Jamie couldn’t be here to experience this with me, this is just one of those times you want to share with loved ones. I then thought, maybe I should wake the crew.

Well Christiana was first to show up and the dolphin continued the show. At one point we saw a big green ball rise from deep beneath the boat only to explode into 5 individual silhouette trails dancing apart, then coming back together as the graceful sea mammals continued their dance while trails from flying fish scattered about. Nicole and Charlie finally got up in time to see the show before the dolphin went on their way, but Joel and Jeff didn’t leave their bunks…oh well, their loss. We think they were the same pod of common dolphin that came by after the sun came up.

One of the things that crossed my mind while watching this light show that was taking place, was the question of what it must look like from underwater and the realization that, dolphin have good eyes so they get to see this all the time from under water. Just another reason why I believe when it comes to rank on the life ladder, we are several rungs below the dolphin, they are just designed too perfect…they don’t need technology to create their own light show.

This will rank as one of the greatest experiences of my lifetime! It’s just sad to think they have to swim through all that plastic that I see during the day.

Day 34...Happy tomorrow today!!!!

dwheeler@scubadrewvideo.com (Drew Wheeler) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 01:22:00 +0000

July 14th…no wait the 15th…
but if I walk to the other side of the boat, is it tomorrow?!?!?!?!
Position: 34 00.00N, 180 00.00E

We made it to the International Dateline!!!!
Yesterday, today or tomorrow…depending on where you live and how you look at it, we crossed back to the future. After a brief cheer and congratulations between the crew, we went about our work and began trawling north along the Dateline.

Our first trawl came up so full of plankton that it was voided as a valid sampling due to the flow rate being obstructed by excessive plankton. So we decided to go with shorter trawl durations. On the first 15 minute trawl, I was astonished, disgusted, revolted…pick any one of those words and you only come close to describing how I felt when I saw the amount of plastic that could be seen in the sample, the green, white and brown pieces in petri dish (Note the large white piece under yellow plankton).

We did have a very unusual sighting in the morning, and a first for the Alguita Gyre voyages. While spotting and filming debris from the boom (a favorite perch for me) with Captain Moore at the bow, I spotted an unidentified object ahead in the water. So I made the “Debris ahead” call and relayed the necessary course adjustments to Nicole on the helm. As we approached the object, Charlie readied the pole net, I began taping and suddenly we recognized the shape…

"It’s a Turtle!” Charlie and I chimed in unison. I quickly tried to zoom in as the boat rolled past the turtle...who didn’t really do much to get away from us. Probably as surprised to see us as we were to see him.

I jumped off the boom to get ready to jump in the water with my camera as Charlie took control of the boat. We stopped immediately and backed up a bit, but the turtle had dove under the surface by then and I was unable to get anymore footage of our visitor. I did notice that the water was very thick with pelagic jellies, which makes sense…that’s what Juvenile turtles eat for the first few years of their lives. We never got a clean look at it's ID, but I have a good enough picture that I think I can get an expert to take a look when I return. The picture above is too low resolution for an ID (white spot on the shell by it's head) but it clearly shows the Hawksbill turtle as we drifted past.

Finally, I got to do a night dive! Whoopee!!! As the sun was setting the wind basically died out (again) so we took the opportunity to gear up and see what lurks in the Deep at night. There is nothing more exciting for me than diving at night and to dive in the middle of the ocean at night is just that much better!!!

The first element of the dive was getting my lights working properly! Well the old faithful Ocean Images RB75 lights pulled through in the clutch even though I had to zip tie them to the Light and Motion Bluefin housing. I think zip ties rank up there with duct tape, they always come thru in a pinch! I still had some learning curve issues with the housing and camera, but ended up very happy with some great footage of many different planktons and jellies.

I won’t even begin to try and name them, but I can tell you it is not what you see on an average "shallow water" night dive off the coast of Oahu!
When reviewing the video, I found that some of the critters aren’t even in the ID book on board. I guess I need to find a good Pacific pelagic invertebrate ID book when I get back, any suggestions?

Talking about "when I get back", I can't wait to be able to get all this amazing footage edited together so you all can see what I have been seeing!!!! Writing about it has been fun but I want you all to see this adventure "moving"......if a picture is worth a thousand words does that make video a million?!?! I promise I will jump on the video right away after reaching the dock, well after I rest and start on the "Honey-do" list being composed by my wife Jamie, that I am sure is getting longer by each passing day!!!! But look for a "It's done" announcement soon after my return to dry land!!!!

Now we begin our journey "away" from the sunset, making our way back to Hawaii, so why are we head north!?!?!?!
I guess that’s where the wind is....
We hope!!!!

And so the Journey continues….

Day 33...Getting Closer!!!!!

dwheeler@scubadrewvideo.com (Drew Wheeler) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 22:29:00 +0000

July 13, 2009
Position 34 06.20N, 178 08.28W
4312 Miles logged

Dateline here we come! With a little more than 100 miles to the Dateline, we have almost reach our goal!!! Despite the trawls and sampling we have done to this point, the Dateline sampling and study has always been the ultimate goal of this voyage and now we have it in sight!!! There has been so many obstacles, like no wind, ripped spinnaker, broken manta trawl, more NO wind to reach this point, it's very rewarding to know we will make it!!!

The last few mornings I have getting up early and doing what I call "my daily debris time count". It's where I walk up to the bow, time how long it takes before I see a piece of plastic and how long to recover it with the pole net. The results have been discouraging. There has been no time longer than 4 minutes before I spot plastic floating past the boat or 10 minutes for me to recover a piece with the pole net.

This morning was no different except the first "retrievable piece" I saw was a black fishing buoy off the port bow. We pulled alongside and saw a large amount of pelagic barnacles extending 6 ft or so below the buoy. I told Charlie, “Capt, I gotta swim with this one and get video”. Seas were flat, wind was nonexistent, and so he said “Go for it”. I grabbed my Light and Motion housing, Sony SR11 and snorkel gear and slipped in to the 25,000 ft deep water. The buoy had pelagic barnacles and crabs all the way down the 6 ft of line still attached.

It was amazing to see the colony of life that had developed on this debris.
Because the plastic lasts so much longer than natural debris, I find myself asking “How does this change the natural life cycle of these floating microcosms?”. I have found only one piece of natural organic debris this far out in the ocean, a piece of coconut husk, but we have collected hundreds of pieces of plastic objects.

We spotted 3 more buoys today that I was able to snorkel or scuba dive around. So finally I got to get footage of debris from the water and the pelagic life that is affected by it's presents. It was an amazing opportunity for this videographer!!!!!

The funniest part of the day was when the Captain Charlie was scraping the barnacles off the buoy and the cute little pelagic crabs were assaulting us in droves!!!! Trying to latch on to the nearest object after getting removed from the buoy and we were the closest objects. We both had to be checked over after we got out of the water for stubborn crabs that didn’t want to let go. It was a little creepy!!!!

During one "debris" stop I was able to get some great footage of the assorted pelagic jellies that inhabit these waters. I got one full hour of freediving in the most pelagic jelly filled water I had been in this whole trip.
But when the crabs started attacking again (more barnacle scrapping by Charlie) and I was getting stung all over by the "stuff" that stings, I had to get out!!!

By my 3rd time in the water I was smart enough to have a full wet suit so I wouldn’t get stung…some of the jellies can defend themselves!!!!
I was glad to have the wet suit on for that dive because there was an insane thermo cline at 50 ft where the temp dropped to 57 deg F. Brrrrr!!!!! Like I said in the last blog.....I have been spoiled by Hawaii’s warm water; I forgot what cold feels like!!!!

So my next blog will be from "Passing of the Dateline"....I will be writing to you from "tomorrow"! Till then have a great Today!!!!

Day 31....4,000 miles "Sailed"!

dwheeler@scubadrewvideo.com (Drew Wheeler) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:07:00 +0000

July 11, 2009
34 13 25N, 174 38.91W
Over 4000 miles traveled
Heading 245

Its 4:22 pm in whatever time zone follows Hawaii's. I just realized that not only is this the furthest west the ORV Alguita has been, but me too! I have never traveled very far outside the U.S. so this is a real first for me.

As I sit up on the cabin roof, shaded from the sun by the backlit colors of the red and green spinnaker, gently filled by the steady 12 knot breeze we are enjoying, I can reflect back, not only about the last few days but on the entire trip so far.

I am not sure what aspect has been the most surreal during this whole voyage....
Seeing an albatross skimming the waves in search of food often over a 1,000 miles from land.

Or when it lands and pays us a visit, just as curious of us as we are of it.

Maybe it's when we dive with 30,000 ft of water beneath us, you don't want to "drop" anything here while diving!

Perhaps it's seeing with my own eyes just how much plastic is floating through this very remote, very small sliver of sea that I have now been exposed to on this trip…..thinking what are the chances that we happened to sail through the only plastic filled strip in the Pacific Ocean? What are the odds of that! I question what must the big picture look like if this is what we have found so far after only 31 day at sea?!?!?

Yesterday's dive was good, I took Nicole and Christiana out for their first dives in the Gyre.....actually I just got Nicole started and Christiana buddied up with her and helped her with some buoyancy issues. Everyone had a blast with the ScubaDawg DPV’s and snorkeling…...
except Joel, who found out just how deep he can take his waterproof housing for his HD video camera! I guess they are serious when they say "17 ft limit". Lucky for him, the camera is still OK. I have experienced "housing flooding" too many times in my over 3,000 dives with a video camera!!! It's not fun!
We also saw an amazing plankton cloud and several larger pelagic jellies. The jellies come in all shapes and sizes, just floating along with the currents. I hope to be able to get some night shots of these creatures with their "iridescence" glowing, making the night's black water shimmer with brilliant jelly "jewels"!

Another sea creature I really enjoy because they are just so darn cute, are the pelagic crabs! They are "hitch hikers" on all the debris we find. They will definitely be one of the characters in the children's book my brother David and I will be composing after my return! Our book will be about our Oceans and the plastic problem to help make the "up and coming" generation aware of the issue, in a "kid friendly" way. So this crab picture is for you, Nate and Ben (my nephews), make sure Dad adds him into to your bed time stories!!!!! I miss you guys!!!!

Back to today's dive, I was expecting more debris, but the way everything ended up, I was unable to venture too far from the boat before I got colder than expected and began to get low on air. It's been a long time since I dove in waters other then off the coast of Oahu, forgot how cold it can get! I now really appreciated the almost consist water temp of 78 degrees in Hawaii!!!! Though I hope to get another chance to film the debris from the water before this boat returns to dock. The good news is the Light and Motion Bluefin housing is working very well, I am just not used to the controls yet. But with more practice, I'll get it! Another reason for the need for more dives on this trip!

As we continue to head southwest, we have seen what we think were several more fin whales, rough toothed dolphin and a bunch of medium sized whale's breaches…but all of those were too far away for any good video, pictures or identification. One of the wonders of this adventure is when something breaks the surface…you really have no idea what it may be. The middle of the Pacific is teaming with life and trash!!!!

I have been told by Jamie…my "land based support team" (really my over worked and underpaid wife) that Kirsten from Alphabytes has been doing some GREAT work on the trashvoyage.com site, so thank-you Kirsten for all your help and support. It takes a lot and some very special people to keep things "afloat" while I'm out at sea, so anyone wishing to help in the cost of this research adventure can do so through the link right under the "Where's Drew" on the right hand side of this page. Mahalo for your help and generosity!!! I'm know "shameless plug" but I had to ask!

That's it for now. Will be reporting back soon with more stories from "Journey to the Center of the Trash......Aloha!

Day 29....Finally Diving!!!!!

dwheeler@scubadrewvideo.com (Drew Wheeler) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 22:55:00 +0000

July 09, 2009
34 59.19N, 171 51.24W
Heading 265 degrees
3947 miles traveled

We are almost to the Dateline, but Mother Nature is continuing to play games with us. We sailed into a high pressure zone which is bad for progress by sail, but beneficial for getting in the water and getting more unusual footage!

We took advantage of light winds to deploy the manta trawl for several sessions today. With the spinnaker gently pulling us along at 1.5 knots, I pulled out the scooters…
ScubaDawg underwater DPV’s (Dive Propulsion Vehicles) that were so graciously lent to me by my dive buddy and good friend, Mike Deans. Jeff and I jumped in with snorkel gear and DPV’s. It was great to be back in my "natural habituate"!

My plan was to get some footage of the trawl in action being pulled along. When I jumped in, the first thing I saw was the face of a large 40 lb male mahi mahi with a 30 lb female at his side. They had no fear of me at all and swam right up to check me out.

They seemed to just hang out and actually followed me as I rode the scooter using my favorite Harry Potter broom riding method.

With the DVP's we were able to go slightly faster than the boat, so I was able to scoot right alongside the manta trawl. Getting great footage of the manta trawl in action......
It was a whole new perspective of our debris collecting and how it works!

While I cruised around on my scooter, Joel went back to the boat to get the blue water spear gun (on loan from Eric Basta @ Surf n Sea). When he got back in the water, he went on the hunt for the mahi mahi. I got some more video of the fish swimming around, Jeff on the scooter and everyone enjoying our "Pacific Ocean time". I then went back to the boat because the scooter battery was running out.

No sooner had I stepped out of the water, when I head Joel yell, “I Got It! Pull it in!”, and the next thing I knew I was pulling in the line from the spear gun, which Joel had tied to the boat, with a large fish on the end. Landing the fish was another story, after the mahi mahi unsuccessfully trying to bite Joel and Jeff in the groin as they struggled in the water, we finally got it aboard. I was too busy to grab my camera during this ordeal, so all I have is my underwater stuff of the mahi mahi and it's mate, which is OK in my book…...I did not enjoy seeing that beautiful fish give up its life, even in the name of "science"!!!!

Although it saddened me to see such a majestic animal swimming in it's natural domain, only to end up being studied on the "specimen" table, the result was worth it. Upon examination of the stomach contents, Christiana found a lantern fish. This is important because in previous studies, the lantern fish have been found to have high levels of ingested plastic. This means that the mahi mahi can be added to the list of proven game fish that eat lantern fish that are subsequently eating plastic, therefore completing the theory of plastic is creeping it way up the food chain and into our level of consumption! And to think we use to just worry about mercury!!!! Plastics have a whole host of toxic "released" compounds when ingested! Would you care for a little PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) with your sushi?!?!?

At this point of the journey however, I think we have done enough fish research…I really didn’t enjoy seeing the slaugtering of this aminal. That’s the first time I have ever felt that way..…maybe it’s because we had already caught so many mahi mahi on this trip or because I finally saw this beautiful animal face to face in it's environment and it moved me, it's was one of those spiritual moments, "one with the universe" things. I felt like an intruder into his world…

All in all the day was a success, despite having my camera not work properly the whole time on scuba dive portion of the day, I did get some very good footage of the manta trawl in action which was cool. More diving is planned for tomorrow, maybe even a night dive, we’ll see. And trust me when I say, that is real black water diving!!!!
The Journey continues and the pile of debris lashed to the deck continues to grow everyday. But that means.....
so does the odor!!!

P.S. Jamie here, you will notice a new feature on the right side of our blog!!! It's a "Where's Drew" addition, when you click on "Where's Drew" it will take you to a "globe" and you will see where the Aguita is by the little red A!!!! It's way cool!!!!
Mahalo Kirsten, you rock!!!!!!

Day 28...Sailing Trials & Tribulations

dwheeler@scubadrewvideo.com (Drew Wheeler) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:30:00 +0000

July 8, 2009
34 23.61N, 170 03.10W
Over 3800 miles traveled!

Last night was the most frustrating night of spinnaker sailing I have ever experienced. Wind direction that fluctuated approximately…360 degrees. Wind speed anywhere from 4 to ZERO knots. The only good thing about last night was the practice of setting, gybing and dropping the spinnaker then bagging it on the deck at night.
We have really been getting to experience the "art" of sailing (or not sailing...motoring) this trip. Joel and Jeff both went to the top of the mast yesterday to remove and restring a new mainsail halyard.

That is a risky maneuver no matter how you look at it, but we did everything smart with Safety First which means hard hats, redundant harnesses and back up hoist lines, so everything went smoothly. There is always something to fix on a boat.

The cool "news" for today is......We can now officially claim that we are further west than any previous Alguita voyage. Put in the above coordinates in to Google Earth to see what "out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean" really means!!!! We still hope to make the Dateline, but fuel will be an issue since we have used more then expected, again.....we need wind for our return route back to Hawaii. It would be a pretty long "paddle" if the winds don't cooperate!!! This issue is not making Jamie feel very easy or confident! (line added by Jamie)

I did have a fun experience yesterday!!! I got a chance to swim with a Black Footed Albatross!!! I think it was the same one that had been following us all day, teasing me to get better video. I am trying to get better at filming these guys...very hard...moving boat, moving bird...not easy!

Anyways, when we stopped to fix the main halyard, a few of us took a quick dip and we were soon visited by Albatross #EE64 (noted by it's yellow leg band). After getting in a few close fly-by’s to check us out, he chose to land right next to us and hang with us for a while.
He actually paddled along with his big old clumsy duck feet to stay beside us as we swam. He even allowed us to swim right up to him!!! I had fun with the camera, he didn't seem to mind being my "muse". I wish I knew where he was from. The crew thinks he is from the NW Hawaiian islands. We will have to contact the people that monitor these birds and their migration patterns and get the "411" on Mr. Albatross #EE64!

It was great to actually be in the water and filming yesterday. I guess what has been the most frustrating aspect of this voyage so far for me has been trying to find the way to show how bad the debris problem is. The opportunities have been few and far between for video from the waters perspective, so I have been working on getting surface shots that try and show the vastness of this enormous issue. That has been one of the problem for me, in my head, having a "set" idea for filming this adventure!!! There are sooo many variables that come into play that one doesn't think of when "planning" shots ahead a time, on dry land!!! The one thing I know for sure is we have gathered more debris in the last 3 days, then we did in 10 days on the 2002 voyage!!!

BUT there is one "cool" part to all this debris collecting......
On the boat we have a "who sees it 1st, gets dibs" policy!!!! Well let's just say, the old long range eyesight is still pretty good (but don't ask me to read anything without my glasses!). Because I spotted and called "dibs" on the first and so far only, green glass fishing net float....I got you another one babe!!! I found one on the 2002 voyage too. It has a place of honor in my wife's amazing tropical garden. Hey Hon, make room for it's "buddy"!!!!!

Day 25....You can't get it all, its everywhere!

dwheeler@scubadrewvideo.com (Drew Wheeler) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:04:00 +0000

July 4, 2009
Position: 31 27.19N, 164 07.75W
3403 mile traveled

Today has been a day of "reflection"....the water’s shimmering surface due to no wind and in my memories of the amount of debris and plastic back on my 1st voyage in the summer of 2002. To see how fast and how much worst the problem has grown in seven years is astounding!

We have been virtually becalmed all day on this sea of glass, maybe 3 knot wind. So we have been motoring, on course, to our destination sample area. Only diverting when spotted debris warrants a temporary change of direction to go pick up whatever may be floating in the blue abyss. Believe me we had plenty of opportunities to change course. There was a 5 minute time span where we found 4 plastic fishing floats, numerous plastic bottles, rope and other smaller fragments.

All in all today we scooped up 12 plastic floats and about 2 dozen other odd pieces of plastic debris. I can’t even begin to count how many pieces we saw but were too small for the pole nets or too far out of reach off the boat. No matter how hard we try,
we just couldn’t seem to make a dent in the problem, being just one boat, it feels impossible! But with every piece we gather it's one less to break down, adding to pollution of our Ocean!

One of the other very critical elements to understanding this issue is the "visual" aspect. Many people want to see a picture or wonder why we don't see it on "Google Earth" or by satellite photos…it doesn't really "look" or work that way. Now remember we are not even in what they call the high concentration zone yet, but what we can see from the deck's edge within visual range of 30 ft maybe and 3 feet off the water, small to medium size fragments drifting by. At a rate of 10 pieces per minute, according to Nicole who measured the rate today and that was only from one side of the boat. Not counting the large floats, containers, nets, ropes and the many other types of debris that can be seen from "further" away.
When I went and sit up on the boom to get a higher vantage point for spotting bigger pieces, the first thing I noticed was I could no longer see the small fragments. So if you are on the deck of 300 ft ship like a tanker, you will not even see the real problem. Hence all the nay-sayer!!! This is a problem that needs to be addressed "up-close and personal"!!!

Along with our pole nets we have also been trawling. Our manta trawls today were the highest plastic concentration we have seen yet on this trip…and in my case the heaviest I have ever seen! Even when we were in the middle of the "trash vortex" in the Gyre during the 2002 voyage and today we are still way outside of what is considered the "Center".

Each picture is from a separate 2 hour trawls covering 1 meter wide by 6 miles long. The white, green, red, and light blue are plastic bits. The dark blue is jellies and the brown is assorted plankton organisms. From my perspective and what I saw before.....this problem has expanded 100 times in the seven years since I first saw the plastic. Very disheartening, we must put a stop to this!

I want to leave you with something beautiful, July 4th's sunset. A reminder of why we must fight to save our Oceans
........Our Planet!!!!

Day 24....More trawling

dwheeler@scubadrewvideo.com (Drew Wheeler) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 19:52:00 +0000

July 3rd, 2009
29 38.39N, 162 26.35W
3256 Miles traveled

We continue to motor/sail North, not really sure why since the Dateline is west of us! But it is not my job to question the Captain….I am but a lowly deck hand and videographer on this adventure!

We have been collecting debris while we travel, if it is within our pole net's reach and we see it fast enough, we get the nets over the side and retrieve it. Captain Charlie is an expert at this technique, he has many more hours of practice than the rest of us. When going 7 knots, the debris passes pretty quickly and there is a finesse to this "dip and grab" type of collection!!!

We did manage to grab a large Styrofoam float, similar to the floats I have found on the beaches around Kahaku.

I still haven’t been able to grab my desired Hagfish trap.
To see what I am talking about go to "video logs", on the right hand side of this page and watch part 6 for the "hag trap" reference. Jeff swears to me I will get my chance since he has seen them out here on his other voyages! I would love to show where these traps on Kahuku's beaches come from…..at least prove they are out here discarded, floating around in the NSG (Northern Subtropical Gyre)!

I am soooo tired of catching mahi mahi…we caught our 11th fish today after pulling up the foam float. Apparently mahi mahi love to hang out under floating debris.

In fact when we saw the 1st ghost net Wednesday, there were quite a few mahi mahi seen under the net, but they scattered when we got in for our dive. Why can't it be an ahi or wahoo that like to hang out with garbage, we all need a dinner "change-up"!!!!!

I did have an interesting moment today, when Charlie noticed a fish had taken the bait on one of the fishing poles we had off the back of the boat, I step up to reel it in. I noticed all the line has been taken out and the moment I picked up the pole....the line snapped. I will never know what it was, a big ahi maybe, I can dream can't I?!?! But I now have a “one that got away" story!

We ran another 2 hour trawl in the evening and again I was disgusted. This trawl's result clearly showed that we are now getting into the Gyre. Still not the high concentration zone, but into where the plastic begins to dominate the samples. The amount of plastic I am seeing between the trawl results and the net collection is really starting to paint a vivid picture. Plastic can be found ANYWHERE in the Pacific Ocean. It may not be large pieces or even fragments barely visible to the naked eye! But it is here....everywhere.

We found a baby Octopus in the trawl along with several fish that, our "on board" Ichthyologist, Christiana could not initially identify. For all of you that have dove with me you know my fondness of these 8 legged creatures!

So based on the result of our last trawl (2 ft wide by 1 mile long surface sample of the Pacific), I don’t want to even imagine what we would find if we trawled with a 10 ft opening net as opposed to our 2 feet net. The thought is frightening. Why have we, mankind, let this plastic problem get so out of control? We must find a solution before it's too late....some days I feel it already is!!!!!

Early Day 23...Ghost Net Surprise

dwheeler@scubadrewvideo.com (Drew Wheeler) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 19:24:00 +0000

July 2, 2009
Somewhere between
24 24.81N, 160 59.20W
and
26 47.65N, 161 17.07W

1st here is a picture I forgot to send to go with the last blog....
A surface shot of the "Yellow Brick Road" plankton bloom!!!

But today's real story is.....
We had a rather interesting night, really early morning!!!! Just as I was coming on duty to relieve Jeff on watch at 2 am, we were talking about our course, conditions, etc…all the normal shift change stuff, when we felt a shudder and the port engine quit and alarms started going off.

We shut down the engine controls and started investigating what was wrong. We tried to crank the engine again, but she wouldn’t budge at first. Then it started with a deafening metal on metal grinding noise. Charlie and Joel had awoken too at that point, so we were all trying to eliminate various causes when Joel noticed a shroud was rubbing on a pulley. With the shroud removed, we started the engine again and all seemed OK until we put it into gear where she promptly quit again! “That’s a fouled prop!” exclaimed the Captain.

So armed with lights and knives, Charlie and I went in the water to have a look and sure enough there was a ball of netting surrounding the whole prop and shaft…similar to net ball we had found earlier!!!
So we had fallen victim to what I had said in Day 22's blog..."Ghost nets are just floating along waiting to foul an unsuspecting boat's prop or snag a centerboard"!!!!

The net was wound on so tightly it was very difficult to cut free!!! 1 ½ hours later, after a lot of cutting, unwinding and more cutting, we had the prop cleared. It was a hell of a task for 3 in the morning and being dark, but we did it!!!! We hauled up what was left of the menace so no other boat would have to deal with this ominous Ghost Net!!!

Needless to say I was pretty awake at that point, so I didn’t get to sleep until about 5am. I just woke up.….10 am and started writing, had to share this "lastest" adventure with you all.
We are at 26 47.65N, 161 17.07W
Seems like wind is picking up, maybe we found our breeze. Forward Ho, Captain!!!!

Aloha everyone, Jamie here. I just wanted to say "Have a wonderful 4th of July"!!! Be safe!!!! Mahalo

ScubaDrew and Surf Dog....

dwheeler@scubadrewvideo.com (Drew Wheeler) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 23:07:00 +0000

There is someone I would like you all meet, his name is Surf Dog. I have had the pleasure of his company on this voyage, as a companion and a pillow! Let me have Surf Dog tell you a bit about himself....

Aloha! I'm Surf Dog. I live on the North Shore of Oahu in the Hawaiian Islands. I was born in the heart of a third grade teacher (Rexann Dubiel) on January 19, 2007. I love to talk and travel! My mission in life is to promote literacy in children of all ages. "Fun" is my middle name! I'm the Dog with the Blog! You can follow my adventures at www.surfdogsunsetbeach.com.

Besides getting to sail with the crew of the ORV Alguita this summer, I am also taking a "road trip" with my Mom on the Mainland from San Diego to Seattle. I'm having an awesome summer vacation!!! So check out my blog and to all you kids....
Keep Reading!!!!!

Day 22....Blooming Plankton and Ghost Net

dwheeler@scubadrewvideo.com (Drew Wheeler) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:16:00 +0000

July 1, 2009
24 24.81N, 160 59.20W

We made it through the Kaulakahi channel between Kaua’i and Ni’ihau and continued northwest. Last night we set a trawl to sample just outside the 50 mile limit around Nihoa, also known as Bird Island or Moku Manu, an additional data point for an area not yet sampled. We seem to be doing a lot of that on this trip, seeing as how Mother Nature seems to keep us guessing as to the wind.

The trawl resulted in some unusual findings including what we believe is a type of juvenile flounder or flat fish hat has disguised itself to look like a feather when seen by a bird above or fish below….VERY INTERESTING!

There was also a bit more plastic than we have seen so far in a single 2 hr trawl.

Several larger pieces and lots of small bits.

Today started with sails back down as the wind sort of took a sabbatical, again. With both motors humming along, we entered into a current line where two opposing currents met and formed almost a smooth line on the water surface. In that line was a bloom of plankton that stretched as far as the eye could see in either direction. We also noticed a dramatic increase in the plastic debris. We could even see the increase from the deck of the boat, where much of the time one has to be "in the water" to find the plastic.

So while I drove, Charlie and Joel armed with hand nets, waited, poised at the bow to scoop up anything that didn’t belong.

Soon I heard the yell, “Ghost Net!!!”
We immediately cut engines and drifted up to a section of fishing net, just floating along waiting to foul an unsuspecting boat's prop or snag a centerboard (see picture below).

With the calm seas, we unanimously decided to explore this plankton bloom and ghost net from the waters vantage point. Again, I reached for my dive gear while everyone else suited up to snorkel.

This time Nicole got to play with
the Liquid Image
camera mask!

The plankton formed a yellow roof over my head and this ball of net ominously hung in the water with a small group of pelagic fish using it as cover.

After getting solid documentation of the "ghost" net, I looked to the perimeter of the yellow ceiling, and spotted several more pieces of debris. One piece was a large top section to some type of plastic tub or container. There was some growth on the container, but what surprised me the most were the two Sargassum Frogfish living inside.

I didn't know frogfish would be this far out to sea! But I knew where to look for the name of this type of frogfish from the hundreds of hours I have spent perusing over "Hoover's Hawaii's Fishes, A Guide For Snorkelers, Divers and Aquarists" book. I was unaware that there was a pelagic Sargassum frogfish, but now I know…Thanks to John Hoover!!!!

All in all, it was a successful dive!!! We gathered vital samples and video documentation of the correlation between plankton blooms and plastic debris concentrations. Plus we gathered up about 3 dozen pieces of debris, including the dangerous ghost net!!!!

Who knows what tomorrow will bring…..let’s hope..WIND!

Just a little side note...to view the photos in my blog larger, place your cursor over the photo and click twice and the photo will appear larger in a window for "easier" viewing. BUT then you must click your "return to previous page" button to continue reading the blog. Mahalo

Day 21 Journey to the Center of the Trash - Leg 2 begins

dwheeler@scubadrewvideo.com (Drew Wheeler) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 04:17:00 +0000

June 30, 2009
Position:
21 29.66N, 159 23.78W
(I will be writing the coordinates this way so they can be cut and pasted into Google Earth)

Drew here, I am back in the saddle and heading to the Dateline. Thanks Jamie for blogging for me while I slept. Oh and thanks for the picture of my snoozing too…at least you got Lugs good side. Now everyone know I sleep in the "dog house"! Well at least a house with 4 spoiled dogs that get to sleep on the bed.

Leg 2 begins with some good and bad news. Good news, Honolulu departure went smooth and seas are calm, and I have re-organized my living space with new amenities so it is much more comfortable. The bad news is, I somehow when re-packing left the Nite Rider lights at my house while on Oahu. So I have to rig my lights from the other underwater housing to work with the Bluefin housing. Big time oops! Plus I left a memory card for the new camera stuck in the reader on the computer at home, so I am down to 1 memory card. I am so sorry Richard and the NiteRider guys…but many Mahalos for your support and all the scrambling you did to get me the lights!

Jamie dropped me off at the boat around 2 pm yesterday where I helped in last minute prep before casting off. We pulled out of Honolulu right around 7 pm as the sun was setting leaving the lights of Waikiki drifting off behind us. We ran a quick few "man overboard" drills and I checked all the safety gear to make sure everything was set and we motored into the night…yep…motored, not too much breeze again!

I awoke to see Kauai for the first time…that is correct, I have never seen Kauai. Well now I at least can say I've seen it.

Our plan is to head up the island chain, cut across somewhere in the middle of the NW Hawaiian Islands, then continue to the Dateline.

We passed through the channel between the Garden Isle, Kauai and Niihau, known as the "Forbidden Isle". The Hawaiian island chain always amazes me how each island is so different yet the one thing that remains consent is the spirit of Aloha!

The 3 days on Oahu was nice despite leaving my lights. I slept a lot as Jamie mentioned and got some new supplies. Stopped in to see all the guys and gals at Surf n Sea!!!

The Makai Watch was fun, there was a woman there who recognized my voice from my YouTube videos…apparently she has been watching my underwater stuff to help with motion sickness issues. I was so honored that my videos could be therapeutic, I gave her a copy of “A Beautiful Journey Beneath the Sea”. That’s our retail DVD available on our website…
www.scubadrewvideo.com and look under "Products".

It was great while on dry land to hear all the buzz about the voyage and talk to the people who have been following the voyage! I also had time to meet new people who will now be checking out the blog....helping to make the Earth, the Ocean a better place…very cool!!!! Mahalo to everyone!!!!

And so The Journey Continues…..

Day 20...Bon Voyage (again)

dwheeler@scubadrewvideo.com (Drew Wheeler) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 04:02:00 +0000

June 29, 2009 5:50 HST
Position:
The Alguita and Drew
21 Deg 17'29 N
157 Deg 51'21 W

Well I have just dropped Drew off after an impromptu 3 day break. He is rested and ready for the next four weeks back on the high seas to reach their primary goal...the un-sampled Gyre cross the Dateline.

The Manta trawl has been fixed and I left the docks as the crew was folding the now good as new spinnaker. So if Mother Nature will cooperate this time they should reach their sampling area in 8 days. So the blogs should start back to "The Adventures of Sailor ScubaDrew" tomorrow!

Hey for all you like me who "can't find Waldo", while Drew was here he showed me how to look up on Google Earth (a free down loaded program at http://earth.google.com/) and once you have downloaded it, put the position coordinates from that day's blog in the box that says "Fly to" and you will be able to plot their course.

I has been trying it on other programs and 1st they were in Africa, then the North Pole, I knew I was doing something wrong!!!!! I eventually went "old school" and got out my atlas which got me in the right ocean at least!!!!

So safe journey Drew and the Captain and crew of the OVR Alguita. Keep the stories of your quest to make this a better planet coming!!! Aloha, Jamie

Day 16-20 Back for repairs...

dwheeler@scubadrewvideo.com (Drew Wheeler) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:48:00 +0000

June 25-29, 2009
Position:
The Alguita
21 Deg 17'29 N
157 Deg 51'21 W
Drew
21 Deg 42'00 N
157 Deg 57'06 W

The Alguita and crew has arrived safely at Kewalo Basin to refuel and repair the manta trawl and spinnaker! They will be here in Hawaii till Monday the 29th when they will set sail to once again, with Mother Nature cooperating, head up to the Gyre across the Dateline.

By the way, this is Jamie reporting because this has been Drew most of the time since getting off the boat....
He has been taking advantage of a stationary soft bed, wider then 2 feet and his buddy Lug to snuggle with!

He did rally yesterday (Saturday) for a few hours to be part of the Hui Malama O Pupukea Waimea Makai Watch presentation of our new tent (thank-you Reef Redemption!)

He enjoyed catching up all our Makai Watch friends of his adventures so far and he met quite a few new friends while doing the out reach at the tent. Who will all now be following the next leg of his adventure via the blog!

So today (Sunday) is "errand" day...going to drop by Surf & Sea and say "ALOHA", then it will be off to Costco and Wal-mart to pick up all the things Drew wished he had during the last two weeks while at sea!!! Now that he doesn't have to pack and then "fly", he can take all those comfort food items he has been missing!!!! Like a bunch of bags of Hawaii's famous flavored coffee!!!

And not that he hasn't enjoyed the boat's cuisine but some of it has been a bit too exotic for his "new England" taste buds!!! Like red beans and tofu surprise!!! Plus how many meals do you want to hear...."What's for dinner?" "More of the 8 mahi mahi we've caught!

Which Drew has been lucky enough to be one of the "reeler inner's" of, sort of that "Old Man of Sea" thrill (with out the whole shark thing)....till that's all you're eating!!!! So we are off to stock up on Drew's "must have" stuff. Plus I'm sending along some home made chocolate chip cookies!

One of the cool stories he didn't have time to blog about just before they arrived Friday but sent me a photo of, was a hitch- hiking Red Footed Booby!!!!
He came on board about 200 miles outside of Honolulu and wouldn't leave!!! They tried shooing him away and he kept coming back and perching on the bow. As you can see by the photo Drew had a "up close and personal" moment with the booby, he even let Drew pet it!!!! It was all very "owww nature, part of the ocean, sooo cool" till Nicole was hulu hooping close by and the booby did a projectile bird poop, just missing her in mid "hulu"!!!! That would have been a little too much "nature"!!!!! The booby finally left his "ride" a few miles outside the harbor.

So that's it for now, well till Drew is back on board the boat and he can start blogging again. I have enjoyed his brief stay here at home. Only wish he could have stayed awake!!! If this is what it is like after 2 weeks.....I guess he will be "comatose" for at least a week when he returns on July 29th!!!! Aloha & Mahalo to all, Jamie

Day 15...Got my gills wet!!!!!

dwheeler@scubadrewvideo.com (Drew Wheeler) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 17:44:00 +0000

June 24th 2009 6:47 pm
Position:
22 Deg 26.68 N
153 Deg 45.82 W
2300 miles traveled, under 200 miles to Honolulu.

Today started with our second encounter with a passing ship, only this time is was 3 am and I was on watch. The “Horizon Reliance”, a 237 meter cargo ship in route to Hawaii, passed within 6 miles of us crossing our stern. It goes to show the level of things that rank as notable when you are 14 days at sea…”hey look, a boat, yipee!”

Later as we were discussing the current conditions, the captain decided to swap sails and go for the spinnaker again…but he also decided that we needed to learn how to set the sea anchor….sea anchor???? Does that mean what I think??? I get to go DIVING!!!!

The seas had diminished to a 6 -8 ft swell and the winds were down to 20 knots so I finally got a chance to check out the full underwater video system with lights and everything on a scuba dive.

I gave Capt Moore the honors of the first chance to check out the Camera Mask provided by Liquid Image Inc.

Joel and I suited up for our first blue water dive of the voyage while Jeff, Charlie, Nicole and Christiana opted for a snorkel. 200 miles from the nearest land is a pretty cool place to be able to dive. I think we had about 12,000 ft of deep water below us so we still had to make sure we didn’t drop anything…yes my new housing was tethered to me.

The first thing I noticed was there was a lot of debris hovering at various depths all around me…

This is very concerning, we aren’t even in a high concentration zone and I am seeing the same amount of plastic underwater as I saw in 2002 when I was in the middle of the Gyre. I never had to look for more than a few seconds before spotting another piece of debris floating past me....Nylon string, plastic bottles, and parts of plastic bags. It was disgusting!!! I am afraid at what I will find when we finally make it to the collection zone area across the Dateline.

I did get some good footage of a few pelagic jelly species.

Even with the sea anchor however, the boat was moving pretty good in the wind so we had to keep our wits about us and not "wander" too far away. We always kept the sea anchor in our visual range. I was just so happy to get into the water after so many days being "on it"!!!!

After our romp in the ocean, we set the spinnaker and got back on course for Honolulu, hoping to arrive sometime Friday. I spent a little time pulling in yet another Mahi Mahi…that makes 8 we have caught. No plastic in this one. After sitting down to a meal of, you guessed it, Mahai Mahi, we had a brief bit of craziness when the spinnaker blew out the tack and had to come down. It was made for a few tense moments!!! So now we are heading wing and wing with the staysail and Genoa.
Good thing we are going to Hawaii…we can get all this fixed. Ahh the life aboard a sailing vessel!!!

Day 14 We Found Plastic!!!

dwheeler@scubadrewvideo.com (Drew Wheeler) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:30:00 +0000

June 23rd 2009
Position:
23 Deg 07.34 min. North
149 Deg 55.77.min West
Approx 450 Northeast of Hawaii.

Currently we are sailing wing and wing downwind on a direct heading to Oahu, Hawaii. Yesterday was a good day despite all that happened with the Manta Trawl (BBMT) because we achieved one of our objectives of this voyage.....

One aspect of the danger of plastic in the ocean is the ingestion of plastic by fish that we humans are consuming. I don’t think I need to explain the consequences and negative impact of "plastic" fish! That has been one of the objectives of this voyage is to prove plastics are moving their way up the food chain. So while we sail from test area to test area, we set fishing lines out to see if we can catch some additional food for the crew, talk about fresh fish! Also to get "sample" fish to dissect to see if this theory can be documented.

Well yesterday we hooked two Mahi Mahi, also known as dolphin-fish or dorado, they are surface-dwelling ray-finned fish found in off-shore temperate, tropical and subtropical waters worldwide. While Christiana (the on-board scientist) was doing her dissection and collection of tissue samples for toxin testing, she also inspects the digestive tract of both fish. In the smaller 5 lb fish she found some suspect material that was later confirmed by microscopic inspection to be a piece of plastic.

Now it cannot be determined whether the plastic was ingested directly by the fish or through the consumption of a smaller fish it ate. Most likely the Mahi Mahi ate the plastic it's self, thinking it was food because there were no obvious remains of a previous meal, like a smaller fish. The entire dissection and discovery of the plastic was documented on video so we are pretty pleased with ourselves today!!!!

Now I’m going to take a moment to respond to some Face Book comments from all my FB friends following my blog. Your comments are being relayed to me from by my awesome "land support" team of 1 (and she happens to be my beautiful wife too!). So please keep posting your comments and questions. It's great to know you are all out there!!! So here's an answer to one of the questions posted by a few people....

It was regarding the growth on the plastic debris and questioning if it wouldn’t be a better idea to allow the "colonies" to remain as an ecosystem.
This is a good topic, because initially one would think if it attracts growth then it’s a good thing, but 3 main factors must be taken into account.

1. Plastic has been proven to contain and further absorb toxins, so the dangers of allowing organisms to attach and grow on potentially toxic material would not be beneficial.

2. Another issue is, natural floating ecosystems have a finite lifespan due to decomposition and degradation by the elements, sun, water, wave action etc. Plastic objects last much longer, causing the potential for marine life and organisms to travel well outside their normal range of existence/territory, therefore altering the natural process of species expansion. Last voyage we found a fish living inside a floating plastic square, crate like bucket. That fish when we found, it was 2,500 miles from its natural habitat. This could not have happened if the bucket been made of some other natural biodegradable material that would have deteriorated long before it traveled 2,500 miles.

3. And the most important, eventually all plastic in the ocean will break up to microscopic levels to either be ingested by marine life or become a molecular toxin to the water and eventually to us. So if its plastic…it’s got to get picked up and taken out before becoming part of the ecosystem and not in a good way. The main thing we should be working on is eliminating the unnecessary plastic from our society, like the "one use" trend for items and containers that is happening now. Plus we MUST properly disposing of the rest of the plastic so it stays out of our oceans.

Hope that helps clear up why we are removing the "ecosystems" that have plastic as it's "home base". So please think before you opt for the plastic when asked "Paper or plastic"! Better still, bring your own reusable bags!!! It's good to be green!!!!

Okay back to voyage.....

Winds have calmed to a pleasant 20 knots and the sun is out so we continue to cruise on to Hawaii, occasionally being visited by the random Black Footed Albatross....

They are very difficult to film from a moving boat deck…but I am getting better with each fly-by. Just a few more days and I'll be back on my wonderful slice of Paradise, Oahu, for a couple of days while we repair the BBMT (Beloved Busted Manta Trawl)...I'm all most there "land support team of one" Jamie!!!!

Day 12....A Rough Night!!!!

dwheeler@scubadrewvideo.com (Drew Wheeler) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:41:00 +0000

Monday June 22, 2009
Position:
24 deg 00.35 N
147 deg 14.93 W
Heading 203 Deg
Approx 2000 miles traveled.
Well we arrived at the start of our trawling area yesterday morning. After dousing the spinnaker the day before because we were actually going too fast, our plan was to trawl consistently across the area of high plankton concentration to see if there is a correlation with plastic fragment concentration as well. Well the seas were making this task as difficult as could be. With winds steady at 25 knots and gusting to 35 knots and seas reaching 10-12 ft, we needed to be on our toes in order to sample in a Force 6 sea state (Beaufort scale of wind force).

We knew this was going to be a long 24 to 48 hrs, so we all geared up and began sampling. We established a pretty good groove with everyone given assigned positions and jobs we were getting rather good at quick turnaround times of pulling the trawls, removing the catch nets and replacing and redeploying the trawls.

The Manta trawl is designed to skim the surface, while being pulled by a control line that attaches to the base of the opening.

The seas were still a force 6 when nightfall came, but our tireless crew pushed on…joking about the similarity to the Alaskan Crab fisherman waiting for the next string, only with warmer water and a smaller boat. Around midnight, we were deploying the Manta trawl for the 6th time this day, and all was going normal when Boat Monkey (Jeff) saw the top tow line get taught and the Manta plunge below the surface.

However there is a tow line used to bring the trawl in and out that is fixed to the top of the structure. That tow line must remain slack or the manta will nose dive under the water. With a tangle knot getting caught on one of the deck blocks, the tow line went taught, and the Manta plunged below the surface. The large swells proved to be too much for the aluminum framed trawl, within seconds the top bracket that secured the tow line snapped putting all the forces upon the control line and the J bar. Quickly we scrambled to regain control of the trawl before losing it to the ocean depths. Jeff and Joel struggled to get the control line around a winch and start pulling the trawl on board.

It was very close; we almost lost the whole trawl overboard. The J bar, that incidentally holds the entire radar navigation system, bent aftward about 2-3 inches, snapping the life lines like twigs and almost broke free of the deck.
At that point I ditched the camera and somehow Jeff, Joel and I got the Manta back on board but the results were disappointing…the trawl was badly beaten up, with the float wings bent on both sides and the top tow connector sheared off, it was obvious that our beloved Manta Trawl was out of commission for a while.

So as not to waste the time in location, we took the NSE (Education Sample Net) and the Bongo Trawl and deployed them in a manner so they are now our "samplers" of the ocean's surface in place of our BBTW (Beloved Busted Manta Trawl).

We plan to do a few more trawls near the end of the bloom transect then throw up some canvas and ride the trades to Honolulu for repairs. Fortunately as the Captain said, “Nobody got hurt and all the gear can be fixed”! The most amazing aspect of this whole evening was Capt. Charlie never went ballistic and for anyone who has spent time with him at sea can tell you…..
That was unusual. Help keep us all calm to get the "think fast" job done!!!!