Jon T. Howard - North Atlantic Gyre Blog #11

Happy New Year!!! Just a few days until I fly to St. Thomas US Virgin Islands. I will fly out of Los Angeles early Monday and arrive in St. Thomas late on Monday after stopping in Miami. The crew will do some acclimation and emergency training for a day or two then head out on our voyage to the North Atlantic Gyre. Since I last blogged I have continued to be very busy getting everything in order for the trip. I headed to Best Buy on Tuesday and picked up a small laptop to use for blogging on the boat. I also stopped by Verizon to get the low down on international emailing, texting and tethering using my Blackberry with the laptop. It is outrageously expensive so I have to keep all updates short and sweet. Besides that I picked up a few writing journals and the book "Fast Food Nation" from Borders Books. I spent most of Wednesday at my Chiropractor Dr. Michael Lau's office getting some adjustments and treatments to my back and then I headed to UCLA medical offices in Santa Monica for a full exam by Dr. Jeffrey Goldsmith and to get prescription for some sea sick medicine patches called Scopolamine. Lastly on Wednesday I dropped by Dive and Surf in Hermosa Beach and picked up the Body Glove snorkel, fins, and mask that Body Glove's VP generously donated for the trip. Thank you Billy. Hopefully I will get a wetsuit tomorrow to help deal with the conditions in the Atlantic and other than that I am pretty sure I have everything I will need. As I start packing I am compiling a complete equipment list that I will post before I leave. One last thing check out www.5Gyres.org so you can get an idea of the mission of the voyage and see everyone who is involved.