Basura.....

Garbage.... I hate it! This is my rant for the day. As we got closer to Mazatlan, we started seeing more garbage floating on the water.

Plastics are the worst. They do not degrade easily and impacts are known to almost 300 species of sea life, there are probably many more. Sea turtles mistake clear plastic bags for jellyfish. Birds swoop down and swallow indigestible shards of plastic and feed thier young the plastic which chokes them or cannot be ingested. The petroleum-based plastics take decades to break down, and as long as they float on the ocean's surface, they can appear as feeding grounds. The animals die because the plastic fills thier stomachs, it does not pass easily and they literally starve to death. They also become entangled, cannot fly or slowly choke.The plastics absorb and release various chemicals creating a stew that will kill wildlife as well. Plankton eat it, fish eat plankton, we eat fish.... get the picture?

There is a new continent forming way out in the South Pacific between San Francsico and Hawaii that has become known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It is a floating island, twice the size of Texas and growing that is made of 80% plastic. It has been formed by an ocean current called the North Pacific Gyre. The surface winds blow the garbage to this central area where the island is forming. 80% is estimated to come from land and 20% from ships at sea.

http://www.vbs.tv/video.php?id=1485308505

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch

The Crossing....

We left La Paz last Tuesday morning at 10 am with light winds which laeted through the night giving us some good sailing and when it slowed down, motor sailing. The little diesel worked like a charm and hummed along, even as the winds got lighter. As a whole, the crossing was uneventful. We pretty much sailed, then motor sailed, sailed again, motor sailed and then finally on the last day, no winds so it was straight motoring. Very light seas, hardly any traffic, no moon as it set early each evening but that made for some very starry nights while on watch. We took 3 hour watches and our turn at the helm. The nights were warm and for the most part, we could do the whole watch in t shirts and shorts. When the diesel wasn't humming along, Crab or Crusty tended to snore a little which was usually a little louder than the diesel.... Had a couple of dolphin encounters which was fun, saw a sea turtle, lots of jelly fish, and a few seals. The dolphins came and left several times, seemed like we were the only show in town. They were probably a little disappointed in that we were doing less than 5 knots and hour and they love to jump in the wake at the front of the boat. Sometimes you could see over a dozen of them right off the bow. We arrived in Mazatlan just before 5 pm, called in to Marina Mazatlan just before closing and were greeted with a "No Problem Sweety". We were given a slip right at closing with a request to do the paper work in the morning. Nice to get into the showers and have a quiet sleep at the slip.