Last Day On Dry Land & Directions To Follow Our Journey

We came home after lunch at the Cafe La Ultima Frontera to the task of packing.

The newest 5 Gyres crew that has formed in Valdivia, Chile is ready to move onto the Sea Dragon tomorrow at 0900.

First, look that the picture above and below and then tell me how surprised you are that we made it past LAX airport security. On second thought, perhaps this is not a surprise at all. The "chemicals" that you see above are non-toxic. They are along for the ride to test the seawater for ph, salinity and such. However, the flo-through flourametor (Garen's not here to check the spelling of said piece of equipment) looks like we could be caring all of the parts to re-assemble an oozy....and then set up a drug lab with the glass beaker. We are about to do neither but I thought it may be interesting to see what the equipment looks like that we've dragged along from Santa Monica.

Does a place prepare you to leave, or do your prepare to leave a place?

The answer for me today is both. The dogs we met and were sure lived at Parque Saval had moved on when we went back today. The cafe that we wanted to go to last night was closed. The comfy room at Totem Hostel had creaky-creepy ghost noises last night. Time to be moving on.

Here is how you can follow along on the journey:

I will be guest blogging for 5 Gyres from time to time. 
I will try to update The Daily Ocean when I can. 
The Sea Dragon has her own blog and a real time map to chart our progress along with us!


Until the next time I can log on, I'll leave you with a verse from a song I listened to hundreds of times as a teenager. You'll "understand why" when you read on:


"WHEN YOU SEE THE SOUTHERN CROSS FOR THE FIRST TIME. YOU'LL UNDERSTAND NOW WHY YOU CAME THIS WAY. FOR THE TRUTH YOU MIGHT BE SEARCHING FOR IS SO SMALL. BUT IT'S AS BIG AS THE PROMISE, THE PROMISE OF THE COMING DAY"
- CROSBY, STILLS AND NASH

Day 179 - Dec. 15, 2010

lifeguard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for for 20 min.

5.9 pounds collected

697.4 pounds total

Yesterday San Jose passed an ordinance to ban single use plastic bags! Marin is next on Jan. 4th. This is exciting news. The ban in San Jose is more extensive than others that have been adopted in the state. The ban goes into effect Jan. 1, 2012 and unlike the LA County unincorporated ban, this ban applies to all retailers without a short-term exemption for smaller grocers. Other municipalities considering a ban are Fremont, Sunnyvale, Santa Cruz, Santa Monica, Long Beach, Marin County and Santa Clara County. I'm smiling over here.
I can't get this video off of my mind that I watched earlier today of a Pygmy Sperm Whale that beached itself and was later saved by the Baltimore Aquarium after they removed several pieces of plastic wrappers, and bags from its stomach. The whale lived, and went on to be released. Well worth the watch!
Speaking about eating...the holidays are upon us. Check out this great website from The Blue Ocean Institute - Ocean Friendly Chefs, Green Chefs, Blue Ocean - for sustainable seafood restaurants in your area, sustainable seafood choices, and recipes. Another great tool from the folks at Carl Safina's organization. Here is a link to his interview on the Martha Stewart show that I've already posted, but what can I say? I heart Carl Safina.
I want to highlight one of The 5 Gyres Institutes partners, Pangea Explorations. I can't wait to join them to cross the South Pacific this spring. What am I talking about? At the top right side of The Daily Ocean is a link, "SPARE $5 FOR 5 GYRES" click on it and read more about how you can help fund our research.

Join an exceptional sailing expedition crossing an ocean in high-seas adventure and exploration. Pangaea Explorations is offering opportunities to join the sailing vessel Sea Dragon on unique voyages of discovery and understanding.

Sea Dragon is committed to a long-term project of marine conservation, exploration and education. From September to July 2011, Sea Dragon and her expedition team will conduct the next important phase of exploration. Traversing the Southern Atlantic between South America and Africa, and then onto the South Pacific she will span two of the world's great oceans. Read more about how you can reserve your crew position aboard the Sea Dragon.

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get Better. It's not.

- The Lorax, Dr. Seuss

I love these birds.

Here's the latest from The Bag Monster Blog on LA's annual DAY WITHOUT A BAG. The tutorial was today in Alhambra, and tomorrow across Southern California there will be 25,000 free reusable bags handed out to the public. If you see a green Santa, that's most likely what he's up to. You know? I have never found a reusable bag on the beach before.

Day 171 - Nov. 12, 2010

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

1.7 pounds

677.3 pounds total

Community Count Day 70

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 min.

1.9 pounds

572.5 pounds total

The Daily Ocean combined total - 1249.8 pounds

I felt slightly voyeuristic taking this photo, but their anonymity is in tact thanks to the shadowy light of sunset.

The 5 Gyres crew has set sail across the South Atlantic. Many of them have succumbed to the common adjustment of eminent sea sickness that will "feed the fishes," but the eclectic crew is underway to study one of the least surveyed gyres for accumulating plastic pollution and persistent organic compounds.

Garen and I will be joining the team heading out in March from Chile. Please help if you can. Every facebook post counts, every dollar, every tweet, every conversation and email that passes on the information we need to desperately get out to "millions of people, not thousands, as Pangea Exploration's Sea Dragon blog says: (Pangea is partnered with 5 Gyres)

The crew despite their illnesses, are all top notch and I’m inspired by each of their life stories. As always, The 5 Gyres Institute looks for different accolades in our crew, from science, to art to education. It’s our firm belief as an organization that the science of plastic pollution can no longer remain just in academia, and thus we need filmmakers, artists, activists, pro surfers, educators and world sailors to share in our mission to change the world’s addiction to single use plastic. We need to reach millions, not thousands.

"Yes, on these voyages we’ll come across tremendous horrors, being confronted with the stain of our culture, but we’re reminded of what we wish to protect in every sunset, in every moonrise and every new appearance of a celestial body in the gloaming."
An extra HUGE thank you needs to go out to Jon who came to the beach with me last night for the 171st beach cleanup. Here's why:

We can upon this plastic bag buried under the sand at 18 min. and 35 sec. into our 20 minute cleanup. I think I speak for both of us when I say that I was sure we could unearth it fairly quickly.

28 minutes later, and with very little light, we finally dug out the tearing plastic garbage bag.
As we looked at the once buried plastic Jon said, "Just imagine what kind of damage this one bag could have done in the water."

"Especially because it's clear," I said, thinking about all of the sea turtles who mistake the floating plastic reaching the oceans for their familiar food of choice - jellyfish.

Fact: LA County ALONE uses 6 BILLION = 6,000,000,000 SINGLE USE PLASTIC BAGS IN ONE YEAR

COME OUT THIS TUES. TO DOWNTOWN LA TO SUPPORT THE BAN ON SINGLE USE PLASTIC BAGS IN LA COUNTY.

Here's a link to Heal the Bay for more details.

And I hear there's a pretty nasty cold going around...practice your cough for the Tues. morning phone in to work.

Community Collection Day 40 - Aug. 2, 2010

COMMUNITY COLLECTION COUNT

life guard tower 26 - Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

8 people participated

5.3 pounds collected

326.8 pounds total
It has been a colder, cloudier summer here in southern California. Here's half of our gang tonight heading out to collect some trash off the local beach:

Garen (my husband) - Department Chair of Life Sciences for Santa Monica College and Marine Biologist

Tracy, CEO and founder of Recycled Bride

Anna - hot shot lawyer now embarking on 5 Gyres next trawl across the S. Atlantic

Heather - local acupuncturist & holistic practitioner fr Live Natural Live Well

First trash sighting -- a plastic water bottle top.....

Part of the problem of plastics entering the oceans is that marine life ingest it as food. Here is a well thought out description of that problem from the 5 Gyres website.

Anna Cummins and Marcus Eriksen live in Santa Monica. We are very proud to have them as part of our community as they shake up the world to bring global awareness to the disasterous problem of Plastic Pollution.

We found a buried plastic bag in the sand. It took a lot of digging to unearth it.

When we got it out, it made me wonder what else is buried here in the sand?

For one thing, plastic that breaks down into smaller bits that then becomes mixed into the sand is a leading cause of beach errosion. The plastic is lighter than the ground shells, rocks, and other sediment in the sand. Therefor it makes the sand lighter, which means that it is carried out by the sea water faster....learn more at ALGALITA MARINE RESEARCH

I learned this the other night at a party for our friend Emily Penn who is moving to Brasil to work for Pangea Explorations and go on the S. Atlantic leg of the next 5 Gyres expedition. She has only lived here for a short time, but she made a huge impact on our community.

Thank you Emily. We will miss you!

You always have a home away from home in Santa Monica.

Tracy found this fork in the sand and claimed it as hers to collect. Luckily there wasn't much trash to collect tonight because of the cloudy weather we have been having and the lower temperatures. The conclusion that can draw from this is clear:

LESS PEOPLE = LESS TRASH

Here is Emily Penn and her friend Camden Howitt from Sustainable Coasts in New Zealand that is here in California for the first time. Welcome Camden!

Learn more about the cool work that Emily is doing here at Pangea's website.

Check out the super amazing coastal awareness organization that Camden works with here at

Sustainable Coasts, NZ

Thank you to everyone who came out last night. I think the last person that I have to mention is Denis. He is the creator of HIPPO WORKS for kids, "animals helping you to save the earth." Amazing work! Check it out!

Sorry that I didn't get a picture of you up here, but I really appreciate you coming to the beach to be a part of the Daily Ocean Community Count.

I ask local people who can join me at the beach, or folks who read The Daily Ocean who live elsewhere to do a Daily Ocean style beach cleanup and send me the results. I'll add them to our running tally of pounds collected and put up a post here to share your results. Just email me if you would like to contribute. Contact information and more information about the Community Count can be found on the home page of The Daily Ocean. Thank you!