The team is sailing fast to Cabo…

Yesterday we were sailing from Guadalupe to Baja. We saw lots of common dolphin’s jumping all over the place. There were at least 100. We also saw a tropic bird which has a really long tail. I helped sail the boat. I had to keep it on course at 120 degrees by looking at the compass and then steering the big wheel.

This morning we saw even more common dolphins and what we think was a false killer whale. It was black all over with a small dorsal fin. We are still trying to catch a fish and this morning we pulled in a bunch of sea weed.

It is getting warmer out but I still have not change my clothes since I first got on this ship. - Ben

Sea Dragon is underway after her long refit. She and crew are heading south to Cabo San Lucas as a staging area for the Hawaii crossing. They have sailed via Guadalupe Island, home to an abundance of Great White sharks that use the area as a social aggregation point (and a chance to be filmed on National Geographic “Shark Men”

Ben and Luke are posting their first blogs from sea – we will post them as they come

We found our boat at Dana Point Harbor and it was right next to the Spirit of Dana point and another tall ship. Our ship is named the Sea Dragon. The coolest things about it are the instrument panel that shows our boat and all of the boats around it, the fact that we sleep in hammocks that hang from the walls and ceiling of the boat, and the steering wheel that is really big. It is as tall as me. We had to wait for high tide to leave so we left in the middle of the night. To leave the dock we had to spin our boat around to avoid the Spirit of Dana Point. We are having to motor now because there is not enough wind to sail. We call it motor sailing. So far we have seen LOTS of balloons in the water. We have seen white ones, red ones, green ones, and mylar balloons. I now know what happens to all of the balloons that kids let go of. - Ben

I am on the boat now. It is really cold and I feel sick. It is cloudy outside and I have to be harnessed in all of the time and wear my life jacket so I don’t fall into the ocean. – Luke

Ben and Luke reporting in again from Guadalupe:

I was driving the boat toward Guadalupe island. About noon yesterday we spotted land. We said land ho and I rang the bell. The island was really big and when we were driving along the island dolphins came up and swam with the boat. They were bottle nose dolphins and some were as big as a shark. They were the biggest dolphins I have ever seen. We also saw albatross who were skimming on the water catching the wind from the swells. We heard elephant seal babies barking from shore. We are still motor sailing. The only stong wind we have really caught is after we rounded guadalupe island. The captain said the wind will pick up this after noon. - Ben

We sailed to guadalupe island. There are a lot of great white sharks around this island (the most in the world). My daddy jumped into the cold dark water. I had a lot of fun riding on the bow of the boat watching the dolphins surf our waves. I am feeling much better. - Luke

Amidst all the rush, push and craziness of our final refit stages, Sea Dragon and her crew took two full days for a public open house. We chose the Dana Point Ocean Institute, about halfway between San Diego and Los Angeles CA. On top of all this we even squeezed in our annual UK Maritime and Coastal Agency (coast guard) survey – Tim Petit flew in from London! Departure for the core 2012 expedition to cross the Pacific and back is set for the 23rd. Taking time to engage the public like we did this weekend is what we really do. The last several months have been all about the “stuff” we have to do, just to be able to to get out and do our real mission- sail the world’s oceans for conservation, education and exploration…

The Dana Point Ocean Institute is a perfect example of exceptional environmental education. They do the hard, constant, day-after-day grunt work of exposing thousands of people – principally school kids and their teachers- to marine conservation issues. All the high profile work that scientists and agencies do all over the world- including our Pangaea team – means nothing were it not for this last mile. These are the people – in organizations like them all over the world that make it happen. They take the data, the photos, gear, stories and occasionally the actual people and translate them into powerful lessons that all of us must learn. Without the connection to real people, the citizens that make the daily decisions affecting our oceans – nothing we do matters. I personally view this connection as far more critical and vital than all the lobbying and policy discussions some find so attractive. The fortunate among us live in democratic societies that ultimately, only do what we ask them to do.

So this weekend, Sea Dragon – as is her way – did most of the talking. Her sleek gray hull now with over 100, 000 sea miles on her stood firmly at the dock as hundreds of people took her in. They saw the machine- with powerful sailing gear spanning almost 120′ vertical feet from keep to mast. Electronics, her complex systems, working cabin space and huge amounts of gear conveyed a sense of pure capability. The team, led by Dale Selvam, made you believe in the mission and the ability of this team to go out there and get the mission done in almost any conditions. She was wonderfully complimented by the team at Algalita Marine Research and 5Gyres- most spectacularly by Captain Charles Moore talking to a full hall on Saturday.

Together, something much more important comes across- a commitment to serve. We as a team are guided by the wisdom and hard work of so many before us. Two of our mentors come to mind. Patagonia founder Yvonne Chouinard put it so simply… “In order to do good….you have to do something (see post May 2010) Finally we are never far from the graceful syntax of the the Lorax:

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

Thank you to all who came to see us the last two days.

Ron