Research - Pelagic Plastic - Gyre Voyage 2005
Crew Accounts: 2005 Central Pacific Research Voyage
IAN CONNACHER
Videographer
ORV Alguita Crewmember 2005
My fondest memories: Slapping 6-foot swells to Santa Barbara (minus one dinner over the starboard side), the sights of smiling dolphins leaving firework streaks in the luminescent algae, a crescent moon with Venus falling, looking down from high atop the mast, spotting float after float, listening to my iPod and dancing while collecting debris off the bow, the tranquility of deep blue, the smell of gourmet meals, vallelas and formalin, tasting fresh caught tuna and chocolate cake and scotch and pina coloadas, late night movies and early mornings on watch with Charlie, swimming with a net bolus, 3 birthdays and 5 new friends.
But if I had to sum up my three weeks on the open ocean in three words, they would have to be Eyes Wide Open. I thought I knew what to expect — a floating landfill as far as the eye can see. But when the Alguita beat waves and current for 6 straight days, the eastern garbage patch — located in the central Pacific Gyre at 40 degrees lat, some 800 miles from shore—it was far more complex. Sure, I netted my share of plastic debris (nets, rope, bottles, a fluorescent light tube!) but it was the little stuff. It’s always the little stuff. Blue, pink, white, red and green particles floating by like confetti. Everywhere. THIS is what sticks. How can such a small boat on such an enormous expanse be privy to such a rainbow? Were we lucky? Unlucky? No. I saw with my own eyes the price of human consumption and throw away society DOES have a resting place and it’s in the brilliant blue water inhabited by countless jellies, dolphins, whales, fish, turtles and to them this is food! I do feel responsible for the land dwellers. It’s hard not to. But where do we go from here? What will my eyes have to say? Will people shirk from the stare? I truly hope not.
Finally, I’d like to thank the captain and crew of ORV Alguita for making this voyage a lifetime experience — a trip that showed a land-locked Canuk the majesty of the ocean and how we are connected to this alien world. I will never forget you.
Posted: 8/17/05