Journey with Purpose event in La Cruz, Mexico

On the 27 February 2025 we were excited to be hosted by the Ocean in Purgatory Project and Marina Riviera Nayarit at La Cruz for a Free Range Ocean Journey with Purpose event.

These events are designed to engage with both the boating community and local stakeholders on the opportunities, realities and fun of citizen science.

La Cruz in February is a hub of boating activities.

Boats are preparing to go in three directions – north to spend the hurricane season in the Sea of Cortez, south towards Central America, or across the Pacific to Polynesia.

La Cruz also sits within the Bahia Banderas, an ecological hotspot and home to some excellent local ocean science and conservation initiatives – crucial as the region sees continued rapid expansion of tourist numbers and infrastructure.

As such it was the perfect location for the event, and the facilities at the Marina Riviera Nayarit clubhouse were just excellent.

Mike from the Ocean in Purgatory Project and PV Sailing was an excellent host, and gave an impassioned introduction on the important role at that boaters play as ocean citizens.

During our talk, we presented the Free Range Ocean Directory of Citizen Science projects and talked through some of the many projects that are listed there, focussing on those most relevant to boats going north, south and into the Pacific.

We brought along some of the equipment that we have on board – some provided by the citizen science projects themselves, some we've easily made ourselves – and talked through our experiences of deployment from our boat.

The audience was incredible, and – always our favourite! – had many practical questions about the realities of taking part in projects from their boats. We shared our experiences of our trial and errors when getting started on new projects - you don't always get it right the first time but it's always fun.

Representatives from a couple of local initiatives also spoke about their projects and experiences, re-enforcing what an important role boaters can play in terms of managing their own impact on local waters and wildlife, and assisting local conservation efforts.

Our thanks to all who took part, and the excellent hosting by the Ocean in Purgatory Project and Marina Riviera Nayarit at La Cruz!