Today came the decision I have been anticipating regarding our relentless attempts to realistically reach Ascension Island within the allotted time frame. Due to the light airs off of Senegal followed by ambiguous squalls of the doldrums and finally the headwinds below, it is simply not possible to reach Ascension […]

Apparently one of my many catch phrases has transpired to be “well, we may as well be in the English Channel”. This may partially be due to the fact that as of yesterday I had been wearing foul weather gear for 48 hours and everything I own was utterly soaked […]

In this blog we have 3 viewpoints from Em’s (First mate) watch team. Sounds like the girls are having a heavy but exhilarating ride! Sarah: I am in my bunk, there is just enough room to roll onto my side but not enough room to touch my toes. There is a […]

It’s day 8 and 713 miles to Ascension. We all have our routines and fill our days with eating, sleeping, watches, science, cooking, cleaning and down time. This could be anything such as laundry, writing, reading and exercise. Starting yesterday we all began getting completely soaked outside or having to […]

Night watch 4a.m 7 Nov In Native American ceremonies throwing up is called “getting well” . It is something to be done proudly in front of the tipi fire. It is illness moving out of the body physically. I really got well last night. I was crouching at the helm […]

On board SeaDragon: Sunday 8 November The moon is a tangerine smile, the sky rich with stars. We see dolphins dancing in phosphorescent waters. A locust drops into the cockpit and we discuss whether or not to kill it. By 4 am there are thousands of them and we spend the next […]

As Sunday began we were still in the process of eradicating the last of our increasingly annoying visitors from the insect kingdom. Heather, a 62 year old former sheet metal worker from San Francisco, first referred to as the ‘mother’ of the crew has since been renamed the ‘exterminator’ for […]

So – waking up the first morning in Dakar, I had one mission: get the batteries for my underwater drone at the DHL office. As this is the very first prototype of the drone, it is not yet sized to fit in carry on luggage, and thus the batteries were […]

It seems utterly ridiculous that just as I write these words I have to count back in my head to work out what day it is today. Friday. Eight of our crew arrived at the Centre De Voile on Tuesday morning and almost immediately we were laughing at our own […]

Dakar is one of those cities that has a thousand stories to tell… everywhere you look there is something unfolding, behind every face there is mystique and even the ocean roars like no other I’ve ever seen. 12 hours after arriving here the eXXpedtiongirls already have a catalogue of stories […]

Walking along the beach to catch the launch that will take us to the Seadragon. A line of plastic along the shore. There is nothing here that I have not thrown away my self. Crisp packets, bottles, wrappers. The launch arrives at the Seadragon. The boat is smaller than I […]

An early start is always easier in the heat. I’m not entirely sure why and admittedly the first night sleeping on the boat was better than I had imagined. The temperature is palpable and I am very aware that we are still at 14 degrees north which means it will […]