Jon T. Howard North Atlantic Gyre Blog #20

I was up through the night on the 2-6 am shift helping Anna and Marcus do some night trawling and videoing the samples we found. I shot some great footage that I will post when I get back to land in Bermuda. I am very thankful to have the Tactical Solar Lites that Hybrid Lights http://www.hybridlights.com/ gave the crew for the mission because we have been working every night and it is very dark once the sun goes down especially when there is cloud cover like last night. Every trawl has come up with some bits and pieces of plastic but not as much as Marcus says www.Algalita.org has found in the North Pacific, That is the good news but the bad news is we are still at least 500 miles from the center of the gyre where they believe there will be a denser accumulation of debris due to the currents in the Sargasso Sea. After we pulled up the trawl this afternoon we finally put up our main sail and jib(Yankee) sail for some great sailing. The feeling is so much different from when we are using the Sea Dragons engine to push through the swells. Make sure to follow our GPS at www.panexplore.com and also check out the videos being sent to www.5gyres.org/whats_happening_now . As night approached the captain, Clive Cosby, gave us the news during dinner that the winds would be picking up significantly and we would be in for a rough night. He wasn’t kidding at all and halfway through the night we were being pounded by winds up to 30 knots. The winds whip up the swells and had the Sea Dragon rocking and bouncing heavily all night long. We had to pull out our foul weather gear and layer up because the temperature dropped rapidly and we were being drenched with waves and spray for hours at a time during our watches. Let me give you an idea how it feels. Imagine getting on a ride at an amusement park that shakes, goes up and down and side to side for hours on end and you know you can’t get off. You are at the complete mercy of the ocean. That is what we dealt with for over 12hours while we waited out the winds. In the early morning of January 12^th we encountered a large cargo ship that at one point was heading right for us. I watched as the approaching ship appeared bigger and bigger through the binoculars until it was as clear as day in front of us while we worked to maneuver around it. It’s hard to imagine something getting so close out in the open ocean after not seeing anything for at all for 3 days. Luckily we have radar and GPS and our captain made contact with the other ships captain and we sailed safely behind the cargo ship.

Jon T. Howard North Atlantic Gyre Blog #19

My day began at 5:45 am and our first task of the day was to put out the trawls for another round of gathering debris and marine samples. It was an amazing sunrise and the beginning of a beautiful clear warm day. During my 6-12 shift we pulled in our first large piece of plastic floating in the middle of the ocean. I was on watch at the front of the ship and spotted 5 other smaller nylon ropes and colored plastics floating by as we made our way north towards Bermuda. After lunch I rested and did some reading while the A watch took over helping Anna and Marcus with their research. Late in the afternoon the swells and winds were small enough for us to stop the Sea Dragon and go for our first swim. I pulled out the gear Body Glove (http://www.bodyglove.com/) had provided for the trip and jumped into the big blue ocean off the deck. The water felt so good and was perfect to swim in. I snapped off a few pictures of everyone swimming and got a picture of the EcoUsable (http://www.ecousable.com/) logo on the side of the Sea Dragon. What an awesome treat it was and everyone including the captain went for a dip. The water is such a deep blue and with my goggles I studied the complete underbelly of the ship. It was an amazing feeling to be swimming in the middle of the open ocean surrounded by nothing but blue. You feel very very small in the big scheme of things and no one wanted to drift to far from the Sea Dragon..

Jon T. Howard North Atlantic Gyre Blog #18

Today was our first day of research and trying out the equipment to gather specimens. Working as a team we deployed the Manta Trawl to pull alongside the boat and did visual observance for plastic debris. When we are working with the trawl we have to slow the Sea Dragon down to between 1- 2 knots for 3-4 hours at a time so that we are able to gather as much of the surface debris and sea life as possible for analysis. Both times we deployed the trawl we captured fragments of plastic. We also spotted a few large pieces of plastic junk floating in the ocean and even picked up one with the net around midday. Between trawling we are able to put up the sails utilizing sail power which is a completely different feeling then when we use the engine. Other than that, we had a flying fish jump onto the boat that Anna Cummins dissected to see if it had any plastic in its stomach. Luckily it was all clear. We rotate taking turns cooking and tonight Ivan and I were in charge of dinner. We whipped up a hardy leek stew with beef, mushrooms and broccoli and big pan of corn bread for our 9 person crew. Everyone loved it and had seconds which is always a good sign. Our first mate John Wright from England had never had cornbread and really took a liking to it. We have been very fortunate that the meals so far have been very tasty. Last night Stiv and Steve made fish tacos from the fresh Mahi Mahi Steve caught off the coast of St. Thomas. As we run out of food supplies we will have to be a lot more creative and anything more than pasta will become a real luxury unless we are able to catch more fish along the way.

Jon T. Howard North Atlantic Gyre Blog #17

We officially departed St. Thomas at 3:00 pm Friday January 8, 2010 and the Sea Dragon headed out around the southern westerly side of the island and then pushed north toward Bermuda. It is an 800 mile journey of Open Ocean to Bermuda but our plan is to go east of Bermuda into the center of the theoretic accumulation zone of plastic. The total miles will be approximately 1100 miles. We are hoping to travel about 100 miles a day and average between 6-7 knots. About an hour into our journey 4 of my crew mates began to feel the effects of the ship's constant rocking. Between pills and patches everyone was doing everything they could to get comfortable and acclimated. Luckily so far so good for myself and I am really enjoying being on the Sea Dragon. We began our shifts at 6 pm just as the sun was beginning to set and started settling in for the night. We have an A & B group of which I am in the B group. Our shifts were 6-10 pm and 2-6 am with a four hour sleep break from 10-2 am. It was great to get out of the Haven Grande port and feel the cool sea breeze especially at night. Other than a few passing ships far off in the distance which we must track it was amazingly serene. As the golden waning moon rose from the horizon it looked like a boat sitting off in the distance. It was quite a sight to see along with the millions of stars that filled the sky once the clouds cleared. Priceless...

Jon T. Howard - North Atlantic Gyre Blog #16

We are heading out to sea today and everyone has been busy since early this morning getting the ship final prepped for the voyage. To say everyone is excited would be an understatement and we are all ready to go. We spent yesterday learning about the various equipment that Dr. Marcus Eriksen has made and will be using to explore and grab samples. We will be using a "Manta Trawl" that will be trawling with fine nets grabbing surface fish and plastic. We are also sending a Benthic Grabber "Sediment Scoop" to the bottom of the ocean to pick up material from the ocean floor that can go as deep as 5 miles. It is all some very innovative equipment that has never been used before. Check out the video on the equipment at http://www.5gyres.org/whats_happening_now. We also went through the ship again to secure everything and made an inventory list of food and supplies. Our ships owner Ron Ritter of http://www.pangaea.org/ left late yesterday afternoon and headed back to California where his wife Portia is 8 months pregnant so he could be there for the birth of their baby. I know he would love to be along for the voyage but he has been sailing since September bringing the Sea Dragon down from the UK stopping along the way in ports of Portugal, Cape Verde, Morocco, and The Canary Islands en route to the Caribbean. They are putting the EcoUsable and Blue Turtle sponsor decals on the Sea Dragon as I type this blog and I want to say thanks again to http://www.ecousable.com/ for allowing me to be here. As I ran along the beautiful coastline yesterday afternoon I found another 16 bottles and cans. The people in the cars next to the pathway were yelling thank you every time they saw me pick up the debris. All the plastic starts with us and on the land and works its way to the oceans and waterways. Someday I hope we eliminate the single use plastic bottles and all switch to using our own stainless steel water bottles like EcoUsable. North Atlantic Gyre here we come. I will update as I am able from the sea...

Jon T. Howard - North Atlantic Gyre Blog #15

We woke up today with a light drizzle and though the sun has been trying to break through, so far it hasn't had any luck. It looks like we will be staying an extra day in St. Thomas while we wait for some equipment but the plan is to depart tomorrow late morning. We spent yesterday going through the ship with the captain getting detailed instructions on where every thing is and how the Sea Dragon operates inside and out. Everyone was assigned life vests and foul weather gear that is coordinated to our bunks. Mine is #17 and it's very important to create complete order because in the event of a sudden change of weather or an emergency we all need to be clear about where things are and the proper procedure. Captain Clive Cosby from the UK has been very thorough and is great a teacher which makes any of the work and learning so much better. The one thing he has stressed more than anything is safety and taking every thing about our assigned tasks serious. After our morning of training we actually

took the Sea Dragon out sailing for a while so we could all learn how to operate the wenches and sails. The ships owner Ron Ritter who sailed the ship down from England took photos and video from the dingy as we went through some basic maneuvers with the sails on the Sea Dragon. So far so good and I really love getting as involved as possible. The experience the captain and his first mate John Wright have is lifelong and I hope to learn as much about sailing as possible on this voyage. We will all be working around the clock doing 3 man crews of 6 hours on then 6 hours off during the day and 4 hours on and 4 hours off and 4 hours on through the night. They have stressed over and over that rest and down time will be very important as well as eating well and drinking large amounts of water. Well I must report back to the ship for some duties...

Jon T. Howard - North Atlantic Gyre Blog #14

Yesterday was a busy and full day getting organized on the boat and helping out where I was able. I was sent on a mission with one of the crew members named Steve Amato to find propane to fill a couple of the tanks used on the Sea Dragon. We took the dingy out of the port across the harbor and around to the other side of the island looking for the St. Thomas Gas Company. It was strange being in such a small boat as we traversed across the harbor in the shadows of the massive cruise ships. Unfortunately we were given some wrong directions not once but twice and it ended up being a seek and find mission. The next thing I know Steve and I are walking down a busy street pushing a shopping cart we found loaded with the tanks. It all worked out in the end but not after quite an adventure. As soon as we got back to the Sea Dragon, Anna, Stiv and Ivan (http://www.blueturtle.com/) were loading the dingy to go for a swim and snorkeling at a little beach area Stiv had found earlier in the day. They asked if I wanted to join them and off we went. It was great to test out the new mask Body Glove gave me while we swam and looked at fish in the late afternoon. We we returned to the ship I headed out for a 3 mile sunset run. On a side note, I have been putting together a non profit program called Running For Mother Nature where I pick up plastic bottles, cans and glass bottles during my runs and donate the money to environmental organizations. The idea is, if there was a nickle or a dime on the street most people would pick it up but since people view bottles and cans as trash most individuals just leave it and walk past it. I think if we change the mindset of runners and walkers across the US to show them they can help by cleaning their neighborhood and raise money for organizations that actually are working for solutions it is a win-win for all especially Mother Earth. During my extensive traveling this year, I have tried it in Florida, Texas, Missouri, Northern California, Southern California, The High Desert of Joshua Tree, Hawaii's North Shore, Utah, and now St. Thomas. I picked up 8 bottles or cans on my run in St. Thomas which is considered a paradise in the world. No matter where I have run I usually find an average of 5 bottles which equates to about 20 cents. I run an average of 4 times a week so that is 80 cents a week. I know that isn't much but there are a lot of runners and walkers out there and if each one gave even $12 on a quarterly basis and there are 100,000 people participating, that works out to about a 4.8 million dollars a year that could be generated for organizations that really need funding. I hope to launch the program in the spring of 2010 and give to an organizations that study and try to solve our world pollution issues. Beyond all that the rest of the crew came in late last night and today we begin safety training and head out sailing for the afternoon to get a feel for working the sails and procedures. I can't wait...