Why am I doing this?

All this talk of islands and sailing, and what is it all for? While it is great to explore, have a holiday and a most definite change of scenery, there is a bigger purpose to this trip.

We’re sailing to Hawai’i at the moment and there’s all this time to think, when you’re not attempting to steer, or keep watch, or defy gravity by living at 20 degrees.

So perhaps now, while I’m stuck on a boat and thinking - not exploring, is a good time to explain a little more about Pangaea Explorations and the company’s vision.

Pangaea Explorations is a not-for-profit organization. Run by passionate conservationists and social change makers, the owners have managed to organize an ever-changing crew of enthusiasts to sail around the world on their yacht Sea Dragon for the past 18 months, exploring the oceans and their islands.

Based in America, Pangaea collaborates with a host of different organizations, institutions, and researchers.

The main project to collaborate with Pangaea at the moment has been run by 5 Gyres – a scientific research group looking at plastic pollution in the ocean.

So while sailing across the seven seas, the 5 gyres crew have been running trawls off the side of Sea-Dragon, picking up rubbish and water samples which are then counted and analysed. It’s amazing, across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans they’ve only had one trawl which hasn’t picked up any pieces of plastic.

The aim is to survey the seas and get some kind of analytical picture of how bad the plastic pollution is across the ocean, where and why.

So. Five gyres and various other scientists have jumped on board to accompany the core crew at different stages of the trip.

I am on the fourth leg of the Pacific Survey trip. There are no scientists from 5 gyres on any of the Pacific legs of the voyage because we are so close to the equator, where the trade winds blow and currents are stronger. Rubbish tends to accumulate near the calmer centres of the gyres, in the sub-tropical latitudes.

But, we are still exploring the issues of pollution in the Pacific. However, I guess there is a broader focus to the Pacific trip. From Tahiti to Hawaii first mate and trip co-ordinator Emily Penn has been surveying an array of small islands. The objective for Pangaea on this part of the journey is to get an idea of the challenges and successes of small-island life, including how rubbish is managed.

So our time on Christmas and Fanning Islands has been spent getting anecdotal evidence by talking to a wide variety of locals. The experience has been eye-opening! My days have been spent at local’s houses, businesses, beaches, schools – learning about a different culture and a different way of life.

The information collected will hopefully accompany scientific data drawn from various stages along the way, and contribute towards future research projects, media reports, and building relationships and networks across the Pacific.

As a side note – although 5 gyres staff aren’t on board at the moment we are however, trawling in international waters for a few hours each day. The simple piece of equipment used looks like a kind of a metal stingray. Attached to the boat’s spinnaker by rope, the microwave-sized contraption glides along the surface of the water, with matter being directed through a tail-like net and into a funnel attached to the end of it. It’s astounding, even on our way to Hawai’i – out in the middle of nowhere - we are finding minute pieces of plastic among the few jellyfish and other organic bits and pieces the trawl brings in.