Adventure Scientists

  • Home
    • About Us >
      • Mission and Values >
        • EIJ Resources
      • Annual Reports and Financials
      • Contact
    • Our Team >
      • Staff
      • Board and Advisors
      • Science Advisory Board
      • Join our Team
      • Our Partners
    • Press >
      • COVID-19 Updates
      • Films
      • Writing
      • Audio
  • For Scientists
    • Our Services >
      • Project Design & Feasibility
      • Project Build
      • Volunteer Recruiting & Screening
      • Full Project Management
    • Scientific Partners
    • Project Reports and Scientific Publications
    • Access Data Sets
  • For Adventurers
    • Volunteer Basics
    • Current Projects >
      • Wildlife Connectivity
      • Timber Tracking
      • Wild and Scenic Rivers
  • Our Impact
    • Past Projects
  • Blog
  • Donate
  • Home
    • About Us >
      • Mission and Values >
        • EIJ Resources
      • Annual Reports and Financials
      • Contact
    • Our Team >
      • Staff
      • Board and Advisors
      • Science Advisory Board
      • Join our Team
      • Our Partners
    • Press >
      • COVID-19 Updates
      • Films
      • Writing
      • Audio
  • For Scientists
    • Our Services >
      • Project Design & Feasibility
      • Project Build
      • Volunteer Recruiting & Screening
      • Full Project Management
    • Scientific Partners
    • Project Reports and Scientific Publications
    • Access Data Sets
  • For Adventurers
    • Volunteer Basics
    • Current Projects >
      • Wildlife Connectivity
      • Timber Tracking
      • Wild and Scenic Rivers
  • Our Impact
    • Past Projects
  • Blog
  • Donate

Welcome to Field Notes

More than Meets the Eye - Kayaking the Sea of Cortez

4/7/2014

 
Erin Clark found herself in La Paz, Baja California for a month because the Montana-based environmental education non-profit she for which she manages programs has it's second largest office there (www.ecologyproject.org). She heeded her boss's admonishments to stop being all work and no play, and kayaked for a week four miles off the coast at Espiritu Santo Island. Erin's research chops include a Masters in forest science and she loved participating in the ASC microplastics study. This was her first multi-day kayaking expedition.
Picture
Kayaking the Sea of Cortez. Photo by Erin Clark.
Two days of twenty plus knot winds have turned our Espiritu Santo and Isla Partida circumnavigations into an Espiritu Santo only adventure. It's unfortunate, but hasn't hampered spirits too much. How could it when you're camping on a two-mile long white sand beach and spending the afternoon snorkeling and hand lining? It's our last day of paddling and I need to take a water sample today while we're here on the far side of the island, our maximum distance into the of the Sea of Cortez. Since there's been little or no garbage on any of the four beaches we've camped I'm hoping there is little to no presence of microplastics, the alarming form of pollution this study is measuring, in my sample. But I'm curious to find out what the water sample divulges. 
Picture
View of the beach and the campsite. Photo by Erin Clark.
My partner consents to stopping so that I can gather the sample. I'm juggling turning the GPS on through my camera's menu and keeping track of my paddle when I hear someone in our group gleefully shout, "Dolphins coming right your way!" I look up and twenty feet in front of our boat there is a sleek dorsal fin slicing the water. The fin disappears and I look beneath the kayak in an attempt to see it pass below. It dove deep, though, and I can't distinguish it that far down. I take its passing visitation as encouragement that now is the time to take this sample, as if it's been blessed by one of the Sea of Cortez's magnificent marine mammals. GPS coordinates are now recorded, the bottle has been rinsed the requisite three times, and now is refilling slowly. I press aluminum into the bottle's cap to avoid plastic contamination and screw it tightly onto the bottle once bubbles have stopped rising. 
Picture
Swimming with Sea Lions in the Sea of Cortez. Photo by Erin Clark.
When I hold it up to the sun I can't detect anything within the bottle other than water and air bubbles, but I suspect that even here -- where I've swam with seven enormous whale sharks, snorkeled past many sea stars twice the size of my hand, and played with a rowdy bunch of sea lion pups -- there is more in the water than meets the eye. 
Picture
Collecting samples gave the expedition purpose. Photo by Erin Clark.
When I return to the port city of La Paz, I drench my sneakers early one morning connecting another sample in front of my favorite ice cream spot on the Malecon, La Paz's boardwalk. It'll provide a comparison point for the other sample taken near the island. Both bottles go into my luggage and then into the post from Montana to Maine. Mexico, Montana, Maine. Marine microplastics. These two one liter bottles have turned a vacation excursion into something more resembling a purposeful mission, and I'm thankful for the added significance. 
 Keep up with ASC by subscribing to ASC's blog, liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter (@AdventurScience), Instagram (@AdventureScience) and Google+.

Comments are closed.

    Read the Landmark Notes blog:

    Picture

    Archives

    January 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011

Donate Now
STAY IN TOUCH
Picture
Adventure Scientists®
​PO Box 1834, Bozeman, MT 59771
406.624.3320 info@adventurescientists.org