We’re sampling the Tijuana River today. We board a group from the San Diego Chapter of SurfRider Foundation at 7:00am, and head out the channel. Right away, its a busy start – a nuclear submarine launches in front of us with a significant escort, and then close passes by two Navy hovercraft. Once we get outside [...]
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drew
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 [...]
Happy GIS Day everyone! Today was a big one for us on the Baylis. We celebrated our official event Tuesday on the SRV Derek M. Baylis, off the coast of Newport Beach, CA. A crew from Prikett Films www.prickettfilms.com/portfolio flew in on the Billabong Seaplane to meet us and film while we conducted an at sea lesson [...]
The Society for Conservation GIS (SCGIS.org) has a great LISTSERVE – for those of you in the GIS world, a $35 membership is worth its weight in support and interesting information from the list… I sent out a note asking for volunteers in the area to come help us out for our morning survey, and [...]
Off before sunrise with a skeleton crew – even without much sleep, I love getting up and off the dock early like this… We put all the dock lines and fenders away quickly whenever we are moving on the Baylis. Once they are stowed, I go up to the bow and enjoy first light as we [...]
Our first full day here in Santa Barbara was full of errands, cleaning the boat, and for me, processing the GPS data we collected while recovering debris from the waters off Santa Cruz Island (see yesterdays post). We partnered with the local Surfrider Foundation chapter to take a group of volunteers from a variety of local conservation [...]
Waking up off Santa Cruz Island, in Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary was a real treat. We had a nice breakfast, and then everybody got busy with a variety of chores, Capt Mark and Dave workng on the boat in the engine room, Martijn outside with a mask and snorkel cleaning the hull and making [...]
Winds 20 -25kts. We’ve been “hiding” behind Point Conception for 36 hours, waiting for the wind and the swell to calm down a little bit. After catching a few waves at Coho, we raise the sails to head further down the coast. I’ve never gone from upwind to 14 kts so quickly… Capt Mark took [...]
A day to prepare. After a great day working the sailing and evening programs yesterday, today’s work includes provisioning, sail planning, and a few maintenance items for the boat. At breakfast, Captain Mark ‘orders’ us to go for some exercise or recreation before we start our work, because we’re going to have a big day [...]
Up early Wednesday to find a coffee shop and get email in and out… the fog is thick, and the streets of Morro Bay are quiet… I’m thinking about how the people of this town must describe where Morrow Bay is when they are traveling… to the north, the cliffs of Big Sur, and to [...]
Weeks of planning finally boils down to departure day – phone calls, charts, website updates, last minute provisioning – all part of the day… then Dave Robinson, SeaLife Conservation Program Director, has us all over for a traditional pre-sail dinner of fresh fish and salad… one last check of the email, and the mapping site, [...]
The Think Beyond Plastics Expedition is underway. A little background on the voyage: Drew Stephens, from The GIS Institute, will be aboard the Derek M. Baylis this November, a 65′ research sailboat, traveling through communities in Southern California, providing GIS support to Sealife Conservation and Sea Studios Foundation. The goal is to provide scientific and [...]
I made it all the way to Gaborone, Botswana from Cape Town today. I woke early so I could meet with Nadia Smith from Stellenbosch University, in the Western Cape. We met last year at the SCGIS meeting in California. At the time she was with Peace Parks Foundation, now she is working toward her [...]
I got here almost a week ago for some much needed rest, and to sort out gear, email, and the logistics for the rest of the trip. Two of the days, one on each end, were dedicated to just that, which gave me three days to have a look around… Tour day one featured a [...]
What a day. Up at 3:30 am, and in Cape Town by 16:30, one hour time change west. I’ve gone from 3 degrees south, to approximately 33. From the air along the way, a nice view of Mt. Kilimanjaro. I also saw Harare, Zimbabwe, and a good deal of Kruger National Park, South Africa as [...]
I made it to Entebbe, Uganda at night, and when a miscue with my pick-up was clear, I jumped into a Sheraton Hotel Van, certain that I would at least have a safe & comfortable landing, with access to phone and email to get connected with the SCGIS member, Fortunate Muyambi, who is my contact [...]
So today I have a meeting with The staff of African Conservation Center, which went well, and then off to meet the Kenya ESRI distributor, Willy Simons, of Okar Services Ltd. We discuss the state of GIS in Kenya, and the needs of cooperation with software companies and conservation practitioners (who typically have little money [...]
Lucy figured I would need a rest (YES!), so she took the liberty of booking two nights at The Masai Lodge, adjacent to “The Park”. This park is literally next to Nairobi… honking horns and traffic for ½ hour, then we turn onto a dirt road, and within 5 minutes, I see eight or ten [...]
I’m back at the Gracia Guest House, where I will be walking distance to my next gig, another two-day workshop for several Nairobi-based organizations. My host is Lucy Waruingi, who is an energetic and dedicated GIS guru for the African Conservation Center www.conservationafrica.org Other participants include staff from Save the Elephants www.savetheelephants.org, Amboseli Baboon Research [...]
After a wild time getting software installed, and my laptop started (now with no monitor), we began a two-day ArcGIS workshop. I am able to use and external monitor, in this case the projector, to run my laptop and teach the class. The place is filled with 17 eager participants from several organizations, primarily Nature [...]