Final segment – Newport Beach to San Diego
Southbound with speed
We had a fast sail “down the hill” to San Diego yesterday – big bright sunshine filling the pilothouse as we passed Dana Point, San Clemente, Trestle’s, Oceanside, Black’s, and finally “home” to San Diego. I’ve sailed a lot in this area, and I appreciate the comfortable feeling of familiar waters… We tie-off at the San Diego Yacht Club, and make way to LaJolla for the San Diego SurfRider Foundation Chapter Meeting. Sixty people in attendance, many raising their hands when asked if they came specifically to gain new information about Plastic Marine Debris. We screened a 20 minute segment of the film “Strange Days on Planet Earth”, detailed the last few days of our voyage, complete with maps, and Dave Robinson took questions from the audience. We seem to be getting more effective at connecting with people as we get further into the expedition. Perhaps we seem more certain after traveling this far, and talking to so many people along the way – it seems our credibility is growing as we walk this walk….
Miriam Goldstein, a SCRIPPS researcher, and Science Director of the SEAPLAEX Expedition last summer joined our crew for dinner locally. Miriam studies not only the spatial distribution of the tiny plastic pieces in the Pacific Gyre, but the chemicals that are bonding to these bits of debris. Miriam is a scientist who rigorously follows the scientific method, so she is the perfect person to discuss the methodology we are using in our current debris work with SeaLife Conservation. We are both very interested in finding the means to accurately sample very large areas of the gyre for plastics densities, to determine the degrees of mixing and separation. I’ll discuss some of our ideas in the final post.