Departing Bermuda and a New Website

Short update on the Sea Dragon Expedition. The boat, as you likely know, has been in Bermuda for the last 10 days as a midway stop on an important journey. Led by Dr. Marcus Ericksen and his wife Anna Cummins, the team has been conducting a first ever trans-Atlantic survey of marine plastics. Transiting through the Sargasso from USVI to Bermuda, and now onto the Azores, their surface trawls are providing evidence for accumulations zones in the Atlantic- as now famously known in the North Pacific. In Bermuda, the team was going non-stop in support of local environmental work. Judy Landsberg, a member of the Greenrock Mgmt Cmtee, set up a substantial agenda. Greenrock is a Bermuda charity group focused on promoting sustainable lifestyle choices. They spoke to multiple groups, met with school children, led beach transects, visited the prestigious BIOS institute, and attended a reception held by the US Consulate. The Bermuda community responded beyond any expectation. People jumped in to help the crew with logistics, lodging, dinners and generously donated to the expedition. The latter included hefty discounts at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, Captain Smokies, and the complete provisioning of the boat by Butterfields. The team also found that the remote and beautiful island of Bermuda is victim to the now global issue of marine pollution. Even with the nearest land over 700 miles away and a small local population - they found the beaches covered in plastic debris. We are also excited that the boat is supporting ocean art. Yes, be calm those of you who know my incompetence in this area. We have a great team of European artists on board, led by Dutch artist, Maarten Vanden Eynde. Maarten will lead a team to collect plastic debris from the North Atlantic. His group is working on massive interpretive artwork - seen at Plastic Reef.org. Maarten's work will be showcased in Europe as an innovative look at marine pollution. Sea Dragon with a crew complement of 13 left Bermuda this afternoon, heading ESE towards a waypoint of 28.5N / 50W- believed to be the center of accumulation. The weather is looking good with a high pressure cell tracking them east. This should, fingers crossed, put them into light airs and calm waters. This makes for bad sailing...but perfect conditions for surface trawling.They are scheduled to arrive in Horta, Azores on 12 February. From there the crew will change and the boat will head SSE. Sea Dragon is heading south towards summer on a long trek to Brazil, via the Cape Verdes. We are also using this sailing as a chance to launch our totally new website. This marks our turning an important corner from the shakedown startup phase, to our long-term role. Sea Dragon and Pangaea are on a sustained expedition to support marine conservation and bring more people to sea. This trip, with its mixed complement of sailors, researchers, and artists is a great example of this. As you will see, there is an exciting slate of expedition trips coming up. We are focused on the South Atlantic for the remainder of the year. This will include Brazil, Cape Town remote islands like Ascension and St. Helena. These trips are important in the 5 Gyres research program...and to help sustain the overall funding of the project. Later in the year and 2011 Sea Dragon returns to the Caribbean. Our intent is to lead an extended survey of marine conservation in that region- again with guest crew slots available. After this, she will again head south. This time via the Panama Canal to the south Pacific. The 5-Gyres team is keen to visit this region to look for plastic debris accumulation. We will tie this into a larger survey of marine conservation in the island region. Please let your friends know about these opportunities. The more people that we take to sea, the stronger the message. That is a quick summary. Please let us know how the website looks and keep a close eye on the boat. The team should be tracking their position daily and filing important stories as they go. And finally...just a quick update on our shore based crew. Portia is now only 14 days away from delivery. Young Atlas appears to be gunning to get out and dive in the ocean...soon enough! For now his room is completely covered in marine theme items. Best regards and thank you for the continued support, Ron and Portia