Since arriving to the pacific coast of Mexico in the new year we’ve met dozens of new boats and their crews. Some have come down from North America this season, some have been here for several seasons, and a few intrepid crews have made their way here from Central America or the Pacific. As always it’s been an absolute pleasure to meet boaters of all types and from all walks of life, whose motivations for living at sea vary but who all share a clear love of the boating life. We’ve had some great opportunities to engage the Mexico sailing community with the Citizen Science Directory, and demonstrate projects that we are taking part in. On our way south from the US, we took part in the Baja Ha-ha  sailing rally with nearly 100 other sailboats, and were able to share information with the fleet via radio and email, as well as directly in our stops down the Baja peninsular. We continue to run into and spend time with many of the boats that took part in this fun event, especially the kid boats! One of the main ways that boaters communicate and share information here in Mexico is through daily radio ‘nets’, check-ins that generally happen in the morning on VHF. These are very local in nature, and you jump from net to net as you move down the coast. They are absolutely invaluable as an information source on everything in that particular location, from where to find a mechanic to where you can get the best street tacos, and also serve as an important safety network. We’ve had a great time engaging with these radio nets up and down the coast, sharing information the Directory and projects, and what projects we might be doing that day that others can join. The last part of a daily net invariably opens the floor for trivia and jokes, and sharing a short Free Range Ocean trivia  on ocean subjects large and small has become a staple of our mornings. Local cruisers clubs also provide an excellent chance to meet and engage with other boaters, and we have been so grateful for the warm welcome, the invite to do short talks, and the opportunity to leave communications materials for future visitors. Club Cruceros de La Paz  in particular was wonderful to visit, and we highly recommend visiting this excellent local cruising club and its morning coffee sessions to all boats who go into La Paz in Mexico. We've also been hosting some educational outreach events aboard Freeranger inviting our boat neighbours aboard to learn about projects we - and they! - can participate in during their cruising.   Over the past weeks we’ve hosted on board daily sessions of the Secchi Disk Study , a citizen science project established to help researchers understand the impact of climate change on phytoplankton. To check the levels of phytoplankton in our ocean, the project has developed a simple piece of equipment that you can order or make yourself and a free smart phone app for sailors and fishermen to use wherever they are in the world. We have been inviting cruisers daily to come aboard and take part in the readings, and learn more about phytoplankton. These sessions have just happened to coincide with a large bloom of plankton in our bay. At first this was met with grumbles from the fleet (about 30 boats), as it was clogging up everyone’s water maker filters! However over time we have seen the power of experiential education in action and real engagement and positive change in attitude to the conditions, as we all learned more about plankton, and had some spectacular nighttime swims in the bioluminescence. The daily Secchi reading became a key part of the morning net, as people both want to know for the science, and whether to run their water makers! It also explained why a humpback whale kept coming into the bay and cruising around the boats at anchor! As we enter our last few weeks in Mexico we’ll spend some time in Bahia Banderas, getting ready for the Pacific crossing in May. There’s both a very active net and a boat kids club here, and we’ll be working with both share and demonstrate various citizen science projects that boaters can do. It’s a pretty spectacular setting, with the bay currently full of very active humpback whales – each sighting of which can be reported by boaters of course!

We were thrilled to hear that the Ocean Cruising Club has awarded its Conservation Challenge Grant 2025 to Free Range Ocean towards the development of our directory of Ocean Citizen Science Projects.   This grant is the 13th to be made since 2019. A variety of challenging projects have been supported in that time, including unsupported, non-stop, singlehanded circumnavigations and several environmental maritime research projects. The 2022 UNESCO State of the Ocean report highlighted that 'scientific knowledge illuminates the way to reversing the decline in ocean health, conserving marine life, addressing ocean aspects of climate change and using the ocean sustainably to improve people’s lives.' Yet collecting data from our ocean is a vast, difficult and expensive task. One that says needs all hands-on deck to achieve. At its core, citizen science means the collection and analysis of data relating to the natural world by members of the general public, typically as part of a collaborative project with professional scientists. With an estimated 30 million recreational boats on the water, often in places that researchers only dream of accessing, there is plenty of people power in the boating community that could be leveraged as ‘citizen scientists’ to collect samples and analyse data that increases knowledge and understanding of our ocean and helps to pinpoint effective solutions for a healthy future. Awareness of the challenges exists, but often boaters just don’t know where or how they can contribute as projects can be hard to find. To help, we have developed an Ocean Citizen Science Project directory as a freely accessible platform that people can use to explore and discover interesting projects they can contribute their time, knowledge, energy and experience to - be it boat owners sampling seawater for plankton while sailing offshore, or families at the beach surveying for invasive species, inshore fishers reporting on kelp forests or water-tourists sharing whale photos of their sightings on their adventures. To access the Directory, please visit: www.freerangeocean.org/citizen-science-ocean-project-finder . Users can filter the projects by region, sea, topics of interest, species of interest, experience levels, times of year, participant locations (onshore, inshore, offshore, remote), and family friendly, so they can find the best project for them and participate in active citizen science projects where ever they are. Free Range Ocean is a UK registered non-profit organisation, founded in 2023 by ocean advocates OCC Member Duncan Copeland and Associate Member Larissa Clark. We run the project from our 50’ sailing vessel FREERANGER, which is currently in Mexico, six months into a multi-year world voyage which will next see them and their children Eden (8) and Skye-Elizabeth (6) depart into the Pacific for Polynesia in March 2025. Sailing and citizen science adventures. Photo aboard FREERANGER by Nikkey Dawn in the North Pacific. Beyond contributing to almost a dozen citizen science projects themselves, FREERANGER is also used as a testbed and showcase for innovative and accessible research-based or green-operational technologies, and as a platform for local early-career researchers and storytellers in the countries they visit. Free Range Ocean is an endorsed activity of the United Nations Ocean Decade of Science in 2025 and FREERANGER is an eco champion in the hall of fame for the scientist-led Discovery Yacht Programme of Seakeepers International.   Duncan and Larissa are keen to hear about any citizen science projects they may be missing that can be added to the directory. Also to hear from those who have used the directory to participate in projects themselves.    The OCC Challenge Grant scheme has two categories; the Adventure Challenge Grant and the Conservation Challenge Grant. Prior membership of the OCC is not required in order to apply. If you, or someone known to you is planning a particularly ambitious sail-exploration or is planning a similarly ambitious maritime conservation or environmental project, consider applying for an OCC Challenge Grant. Further details including eligibility criteria and how to apply are available on the OCC website . Huge THANKS to the OCC for your valuable support for our project! The OCC is the “home port” for those who have sailed long distances across big oceans. With 45 nationalities represented among more than 3300 members, and Port Officers around the world, we have a more diverse membership and a more international reach than any other blue water sailing organisation. The Ocean Cruising Club exists to encourage long-distance sailing in small boats. A Full Member of the OCC must have completed a qualifying voyage of a non-stop port-to-port ocean passage, where the distance between the two ports is not less than 1,000 nautical miles, in a vessel of not more than 70ft (21.36m) LOA; associate members are committed to achieving that goal. This standard distinguishes the OCC from all other sailing clubs. The membership as a whole has more experience offshore than any other sailing organisation – in the number of circumnavigators, in the range of extraordinary voyages members have completed, and in the number of solo sailors and female sailors among our ranks. This is what sets us apart from other organisations, even as it draws us together as a group.   Web: www.oceancruisingclub.org Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/OceanCruisingClubMembers/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/oceancruisingclub/

It feels amazing that we have already been living aboard Freeranger full time for six months! When we left Victoria, BC in early July 2024 we spent the summer going up and around Vancouver Island. While Duncan had been to many parts of the island by road and sea before, none of us had done this full trip, and it was absolutely worth it. We sailed in Desolation Sound, Campbell River, Port Hardy, the Broughtons (including 'Eden Island'), Clayoquot Sound around to Ucluelet with a rounding of Cape Scott. Skye-Elizabeth on whale spotting duty! Once further north from Desolation Sound and most of the way down the west coast we often had spectacular anchorages to ourselves to enjoy the incredible marine and wildlife. A highlight were the sea otters who were curious and nonchalant in equal measure as they floated around in the kelp scoffing seafood and watching the world go by. For many their return to BC is considered a very  special conservation success story . Photo by Michael Steinman At night we'd listen to the sea wolves howling across the bay winding up the local village dogs and watch bears foraging for berries on the beach. While exploring the wild and remote beach at Cape Scott a lonely old football floated onto the shore which we kicked around for a bit before adding it to the beach clean up pile. It was a replica tournament ball from the 2018 Russia World Cup and we wondered about the journey it had taken to get there. An unusual bit of marine debris floated onto the beach at Cape Scott, remarkably still partly inflated British Columbia is truly one of the most stunning parts of the world. Mind you, we could have used a whole lot more wind, we had the mainsail up a grand total of twice the whole summer!  After a couple of weeks visiting some favourite haunts in Tofino and Ucluelet with friends including Middle Beach where we were married in 2015, we set sail south from Ucluelet direct to San Francisco on September 12th. There's a blog about it and all the citizen science projects we participated in along the way, here. Photo by Nikkey Dawn The trip threw pretty much every set of conditions at us, from very lumpy seas and little wind for the first 36 hours, 24 hours of perfect sailing, 30 knots and 6m seas for the 70 NM either side of Cape Mendecino, to absolutely flat calm for the last 24 hours, culminating in a motor in under the Golden Gate Bridge in all its night time glory at 2200 hrs with our crew Nikkey and Constance. As we headed south we went has a close (too close!) encounter with three Sei whales who changed their route and swam directly towards the beam of Freeranger before diving below us and coming out the other side. Such a close encounter with the 3rd largest whale on the planet was humbling and nerve wracking! Less nail-biting was meeting with 5 dolphin species, literally thousands of sea lions, and more and different seabirds. Photo by Nikkey Dawn It was a pretty amazing landfall, especially for Larissa who in a perfect storm of bad luck had been seasick most of the offshore passage - something she's happily remedied since. Waking up in the anchorage at Angel Island in San Fran bay was a magical experience. It was the first major climate and environmental shift we'd had since leaving BC and climbing up the companionway steps to the cockpit and taking in the new sights and smells from the dry hills and eucalyptus trees was highly memorable. You know the feeling when you're 'somewhere new'. We cruised the bay area for a couple of weeks, staying in Angel Island, Alameda and Sausalito and had our minds blown by all the self-driving cars in downtown San Fran. We visited the Marine Mammal Rescue Center and celebrated Skye's 6th birthday on a hike to find the Redwoods and Eden's at a bowling alley with old friends. At the Sausalito Boat Show we were able to spread the word about our citizen science directory and spend time with Mary Crowley of the Ocean Voyages Institute sharing collaboration ideas for ocean conservation. We're very grateful for Karen and Jerry's hospitality in Sausalito especially during the heatwave days when we kept cool at their home while the boat was in the sweltering yard at KKMI for the installation of a new folding propeller which makes our sailing even more efficient towards our goal of minimising our ocean footprint. Offshore Secchi depth readings are a family affair to collect After San Francisco we made our way down the California coast stopping first in Monterey Bay. The marine life was more abundant than we'd imagined with whales, dolphin and seabird sightings in every direction. A visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium was a real highlight especially having worked and collaborated on projects with them over they years in our former jobs. While looking out of the big glass windows to the bay we could see whales on the horizon. A girl sat next to us with her family and was completely delighted to see whales for the first time ... "it's a dream come true" she whispered to her mum. Monterey Bay marina is an up close and personal experience with the locals An experience that stopped us in our tracks was the vast number of sealions all over Monterey Bay - in the parks, in the marinas, at the aquarium - literally thousands of them, stomping and barking all over the place. And the smell - oh my! We loved watching them and all their antics, enjoying their rambunctious behavior but the shine soon left the joy as we started spotting several that had strangling fishing wire tightly around their necks or fins. For any we spotted like that we reported them to the Marine Mammal Rescue Center on their reporting hotline. It was a sobering reminder of the impact lost fishing gear has on marine and wildlife - something we update other cruisers about during the morning cruiser Nets. The changing flora and fauna as we sail south is so exciting to see Further south in Catalina Island we experienced another environment and climate shift. Calls of "CACTUS!!!" rang out as we made the approach into the bay. Hot, dry and arid hills peppered with tall spikey cacti were such a foreign sight for us after so long in lush green British Columbia. Duncan had the unenviable task of diving on the propeller just outside the islands when it got tangled in fishing line. He was a little pale as he went off the stern, no doubt his mind full of uncomfortable thoughts of Great White Sharks - a fair concern as the islands are one of the most famous nursery grounds for them in the world. Luckily none came to visit. After a couple of nights on anchor we celebrated Canada Day with a Canadian boat (home to a lovely Brit and South African!) and enjoyed the novelty value of having neighbors that included a real life pirate who would fire his handheld cannon at dusk each evening making us jump our of our skin the first time during dinner. We had a smooth passage across to Newport Beach arriving at dusk to the lights of all the waterfront homes. The marinas and private moorage was all choca-bloc so we wondered if we'd be lucky with a spot in the Government anchorage which it turned out we were the only people staying in - very VIP. This was a perfect landing point for a highly anticipated family day at Disneyland and a chance to catch up with an old university buddy. By mid-October we reached San Diego arriving in the morning having navigated several warships on the way into the bay. We had secured a reciprocal spot at the beautiful San Diego Yacht Club but in a twist of fate our gearbox failed on entry to the marina and we ended up reversing in and staying two weeks at the dock while we worked to get it sorted. It was a bonus for the kids and visiting Grandy to enjoy the pool and entertainment at the club and we had many visitors including friends, family and club members to show around the boat and explain the project. We can't give thanks enough to Steve and Tomi for their generous welcome to San Diego - they made us feel right at home. San Diego is a fantastic city and it was a great place for us to make final preparations for the voyage into Mexico. We signed up to join the 30th Baja Ha Ha , an popular cruiser rally into the Sea of Cortez, Mexico. With over 30 kids taking part with their families we thought it would be a great opportunity for Eden and Skye to have a good social time ... and, us too of course with Theo and Ali joining in for the journey (a couple of articles on us here  and here ). Engaging other cruisers with conservation and citizen science inspiration is also a big part of our motivation! Having made quite the name for ourselves with our prize-winning costumes at the welcome event we enjoyed sharing information about the Citizen Science Directory and environmental education with the other 400 boaters taking part. Many of the friends we made have been cruising with us in the weeks since and support for the Citizen Science directory and project demonstrations has been fantastic! The wildlife on the Baja coast was extraordinary - no doubt because of our timing with the sardine run in Baja California - a natural event where sardines and mackerel migrate along the coast and attract predators. We had a feast of our own as we sailed down the Baja coast It's considered one of the most exciting natural events in the North Pacific and for good reason! It takes place from mid-October to the end of November when large schools of sardines and mackerel migrate together and create a dreamy feast for predators like dolphins, sea lions, sharks, whales, orcas, tunas, and marlins who are attracted to the sardines and who we'd watch daily from the boat. The jumping marlin were always a treat to see ... less so the shark who tailed our fishing line for some hours before giving up and catching his own. The timing was also good for migrating whales - Gray and Humpback - which we've been journeying south with since leaving BC. And on the arrival to Bahia Maria we were greeted at dawn by a super-pod of hundreds of dolphins. We spent a few weeks based initially out of La Paz exploring the Sea of Cortez with a great visit from Liza. One of the best places for s norkeling near La Paz, Mexico we found was Isla Espíritu Santo, particularly the areas of "Los Islotes" where you can swim with sea lions, and other nearby spots like "El Bajo," "Las Ánimas," and "La Reina" which offer diverse marine life including parrotfish, barracuda, and groupers. We were delighted to see so many sea turtles in these waters and have shared a new project in the directory about it. Whale shark photo by Jeremy Bishop - we've got a video we'll add to the site soon. A highlight was the opportunity to join marine biologist and science educator Pablo Ahuja, a co-founder of Mar Libre - on a whale shark trip. La Paz, Mexico is a key location for whale sharks because of its nutrient-rich waters and plankton blooms, which provide an ideal feeding ground for the gentle giants. Aside from coming to feed, the whale sharks of La Paz also come here to give birth and rear their young in the safe, warm and shallow waters. The conditions that make the waters of La Paz ideal for whale sharks also attract blue and humpback whales who come to feast and revel in this natural nursery. Whale sharks are endangered and protected by Mexican law and as such it's essential to do this with a licensed operator that enforces a "look but don't touch" policy. We spent most of the day with him learning about the history of marine studies on manta rays and whale sharks in La Paz which he's been involved in for decades. To snorkel alongside them with experienced guides in their natural environment was an experience of a lifetime. In the Baja we were able to add some more local projects to the citizen science directory including some very interesting initiatives on sea turtles. In early December we sailed further north to Isla San Francisco a small island off the eastern coast of Baja California Sur, south of Isla San José. It's a stunningly picturesque crescent shaped island, with pristine shores and crystalline waters. Perfect for the kids to work on their snorkel skills. At the end of the year we set off across the Sea of Cortez stopping at the remote and wild Isla Isabel. It's a small volcanic island about 15 miles off the west coast of Mexico, about 90 miles south of Mazatlan and 70 miles north of Banderas Bay. Fondly called 'Mexico's Little Galapagos' by French filmmaker Jacques-Yves Cousteau who spent many months on the island, the marine sanctuary is best known for its diverse ecosystems, birdlife and marine mammals. We had breathtaking encounters with Blue-footed boobies, frigate birds and brown pelicans who live in their thousands on the island and have no care or interest in the handful of humans that visit each day. Hiking across the island was an astonishing experience with birds nesting absolutely every where. While looking up you also had to be looking down to be sure not to step on one of the gazillions of iguanas that cruised around looking for sunshine. One afternoon we went snorkelling with the kids only to find ourselves in the pathway of a pod of pilot whales. We stayed put as around 20-30 cruised right around us and passed us by gracefully diving below us as they went. We're rarely speechless but that was quite something. Of course, typically, we had no camera to capture the moment, such is the serendipitous nature of wildlife encounters! Adventures in the crocodile mangroves with some Cobb and Copeland Clark kid-bait We spent Christmas in La Cruz with family aboard - it was much needed family time for everyone and we enjoyed marina movie-nights, learning about Mexican Christmas traditions, trips to the local crocodile sanctuary, a turtle release and opportunities to spend time with friends new and old in Punta Mita, La Cruz, Tenacatita and Barra de Navidad where we are now. There are lots of kids boats here and we're enjoying a daily cruiser update on the Net sharing local marine life trivia and environmental tips with our boating friends. We've been hosting some educational outreach events aboard Freeranger inviting our boat neighbours aboard to learn about projects we - and they! - can participate in during their cruising. We have added many new projects to the Citizen Science Directory for Cruisers we have set up on the Free Range Ocean website www.freerangeocean.org , and we are now building some exciting initiatives with local partners in the Pacific Islands that will make FREERANGER available to support their local ocean conservation projects.   Next up our plan is to set off from Mexico in the spring on a passage to Pitcairn!  We’re very much looking forward to 2025!

Join us at the 67th annual Toronto International Boat Show (TIBS) - it's North America's largest indoor boat show - for an interactive seminar about sailing and citizen science where Duncan and Larissa will share stories and tips for participating in exciting research projects! Why Not Be A Citizen Scientist? Thursday January 23 7:00pm - 8:00pm Eastern Time Location: Studio EX: Theatre Beside Hall B Entrance, East Side Add to My Personal Calendar Tickets: https://www.torontoboatshow.com/education/seminars/ Description Boaters know all too well the challenges our ocean faces from human activity – but what to do about it? Can we, as individuals, really make a difference? What is a citizen scientist? Where can you practice and what tools are needed? How do you collect information and where do you send it? What projects are appropriate for you whether boating locally or offshore? Can you do it alone or in a group? Come to be inspired about projects around the world that need help and energize into being proactive yourself! Speakers Liza Copeland, Duncan Copeland, Larissa Clark (Livestreamed) B.C. Marine Authors Liza grew up racing on the Solent, UK. She met Andy at the Sunfish World championships and they subsequently ran 12 meter Flica 11 as a Caribbean charter boat. They were married aboard the American classic Ticonderoga, before sailing across the Atlantic on the Fifer Eileen. After working, racing and cruising in Vancouver, they set off on a two-year Med/Caribbean plan in their 40’ Beneteau Bagheera with three young children but ended up in Australia for the Tall Ships regatta and continued to cruise around the world for six years. Later they sailed around North and Central America and to many new and old haunts in Africa and the Caribbean before returning to explore beautiful BC and Alaska. Liza is the award-winning author of four best-selling books. Just, Still and Comfortable Cruising recount their cruising adventures. Updated Cruising for Cowards, co-authored with Andy, is a readable how-to text . See: www.aboutcruising.com Ocean advocates and sailors Duncan Copeland and Larissa Clark are currently on a world voyage with their two children aboard Freeranger, their 50ft Beneteau. Together they have over 40 years experience running ocean focused-environmental campaigns and communications. In 2023 they founded Free Range Ocean, a non-profit organization dedicated to using adventure sailing, citizen science and storytelling to inspire action for a healthy ocean among boating and coastal communities. www.freerangeocean.org

To celebrate World Ocean Day 2023 we’re happy to report that a donation through the 1% for the Planet platform from Another World Adventures contributed towards the development our new ocean conservation not-for-profit called Free Range Ocean and the first of its many exciting projects.  Free Range Ocean is a UK-registered not-for-profit organisation founded in 2023 to inspire action for our ocean through adventure, science and storytelling.  The first Free Range Ocean initiative took place this spring 2023. Project: TransPacific Dates: 86 days between March and May 2023 Vessel: Freeranger (Beneteau 50 Celebration sailboat) Passage: Sailing over 7,500nm across the Pacific Ocean, from Whangamata, New Zealand to Victoria, Canada via French Polynesia and Hawaii. An international crew undertook two citizen science projects during a vessel delivery with the aim of contributing data from hard to reach places offshore to global research projects.  Free Range Ocean Skipper: Mark Griffiths Crew New Zealand > French Polynesia > Hawaii: Bryce Thurston & Bernadette Marcon Crew Hawaii > Victoria, BC: Elle Burke & Adam Eason Onshore Direction & Logistics: Larissa Clark & Duncan Copeland The first of two projects they were able to support with remote data sampling was the Global Oceanic Environmental Survey – A collaborative data collection project coordinated by the GOES Foundation. Aim and background: More than 60% by mass of all animals and plants in the oceans are under 1mm in size and they have been almost completely ignored by climate scientists, this is surprising because they control our climate, atmosphere and are the life support system for the entire planet.  By way of example, there are more cells of a plant call Prochlorococcus than there are grains of sands, and the mass of small animals called Copepods equates to the mass of 17 million jumbo jets. The animals migrate from a depth 400m every night to feed on the plants at the surface. This is the greatest mass migration on the planet, and their swimming action moves more water than the moon and tides.  The biology of the oceans are critically important but the science emerging is telling us that because we have polluted our beautiful oceans so much over the last 70 years, we have collectively managed to reduce the numbers of tiny planktonic plants and animals by a staggering 50%. This destruction is continuing at a rate of 1% year on year. These tiny animals are munching on toxic microplastic (they can’t tell the difference between plant and plastic particles) and the GOES Foundation have created an observational study so that we can start to estimate the amount of toxic chemical in the deep ocean.  Free Range Ocean Participation:  The crew collected samples twice per day for the entire voyage (minus a handful of times when it was not safe to do so) taking photos of the samples using a microscope on board and documenting the results which were submitted to the project upon landfall. Over 100 at-sea water samples were collected. A summary report created by an undergraduate marine scientist is soon to be publishedhaving conducted data analysis on the samples collected during the voyage to understand and they’ll share observations and findings. The crew took a 0.5 litre of sea water, put it through a GOES filter (developed by Dr.Jesus Ramon Barriuso Diez), count plankton, microplastics (fibres and beads) and any other particles which are over 20 microns. By counting the particles, the microplastics and the plankton, the GOES Foundation will use machine learning to undertake the following, but the really exciting thing about science is that other patterns and relationships may start to emerge as the number of samples we all take increases:  look for relationships and correlations in the numbers present the data in ways that help us understand what’s going on in the deep ocean add up the amount of toxic PCB that is in the deep oceans of our planet. Watch this space for the findings…

In September 2024 we set sail on a direct voyage of 750nm from Ucluelet, British Columbia to San Francisco, California - it was a big stage for us in our journey so far as it ended the fantastic 18 months we've spent in British Columbia and meant we were finally heading South. Crew Name Role Duncan Copeland Captain Larissa Clark First Mate, First Aid Constance Hummel Crew, Watch Leader, Ass. First Aid Nikkey Dawn Crew, Trip Documentation Eden Copeland Age 7 - wildlife spotter, citizen science helper Skye-Elizabeth Copeland Age 5 - wildlife spotter, citizen science helper The voyage took the expected 5 nights 6 days with the typical 'not enough' wind and 'a lot of' wind and 'not always blowing the right way', but primarily they were NW winds with variable 5-30 knots leading to a couple of days and nights in the middle with a sea state at 4-6meters which made for some fun surfing! We took the ‘offshore’ route, generally 40-50 NM off the coast to avoid inshore fishing activity, with the hope of staying out of larger wave conditions (hmmm) and shipping lanes further offshore. Once south of Cape Mendocino, we headed closer inshore on a bearing for San Francisco port entrance which we arrived at late in the evening to sail under the twinkling Golden Gate Bridge and into our first USA port where we took anchor at Angel Island. Highlights from the journey have to be the incredible wildlife we encountered the whole way from sea otters, sea lions, countless humpback whales, three sei whales changing direction and swimming under Freeranger, dolphins at the bow, porpoises, dazzling light shows of bioluminescence, so many birds and seeing pelicans as we entered San Fran, night skies, and for some, big old surfing waves! Lowlights have to be Larissa's sea sickness and the dreadful thudding coming from the engine room which resulted in 12 days in the yard on arrival to San Fran but let's not dwell on that! Our voyage plan included participation for half a dozen citizen science projects as below. Citizen Science Projects Whale Report App Technology developed in British Columbia helps researchers better understand local whale populations is now being used to protect those same whales. Through Ocean Wise’s Sighting Network we contributed to conservation-based research by submitting sightings of cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) when in the waters of British Columbia (B.C.) and northern Washington of which we had many during the passage south. Once we'd left the range of the App we switched to a more local initiative to report our Sei whale encounter! Secchi Disk Study We've enjoyed helping researchers understand the impact of climate change on phytoplankton by taking regular Secchi depth readings and sharing them on the interactive app which is popular with the kids! This was particularly fun mid-way where we took our deepest reading so far since starting earlier this year. It was amazing for the kids to see the disk going deeper and deeper into clear ocean seas when in BC the waters were so nutrient rich we'd lose it after a few meters. Global Ocean Environment Survey This is another very interesting project and the one we have the most history with as our crews have contributed over 100 data points to in the study in the past by using a water sample filter and photograph for plankton and microplastics research. This passage was hampered by a failing (lost) O-ring in our GOES filter which meant the samples wouldn't be reliable so it's in for repair and we'll try again next time! Windrow Observation With technological advances moving at such pace people sometimes presume everything can be done with 'eyes in the sky' but ground-truthing satellite imagery is still a critical part of technology development for plastic pollution research and beyond. We shared reporting on positions and ground-truthing satellite imagery by observation of "windrows", elongated phenomena on the ocean surface which have little to do with the wind (actually, they form under low winds). They typically have a width of less than 100 meters and their length can exceed 10km. They are seen either as mirror glossy strips of water (due to oily natural or anthropogenic surfactant) or as dense aggregations of floating matter (debris, foam, neuston, etc.). We shared sightings (see one pictured by Nikkey below) of a couple with Nikolai Maximenko at University of Hawaii so he could compare our positions with any slicks in images of ESA's Sentinel-2 (optical) and Sentinel-1 (radar, can see through clouds) satellites. Velella Observations Velella, or "by-the-wind sailors," are stunning blue colonial hydrozoans with unique sails that help them drift across oceans. Their angled sails prevent mass strandings, while they play vital ecological roles as plankton predators and prey for specialized species. We kept our eyes peeled to share any sightings of these fascinating creatures at sea with Tom W. Iwanicki, PhD MSc at Georgetown University to help understand the ‘lefty’ v ‘righty’ of this marine species. Seabed2030 We were welcomed into the " Hall of Fame" as a Seakeeper International Discovery Yacht in summer 2024. Before leaving Ucluelet we set up a device they provided to capture passive recording of depth information towards creation of global seabed map by 2023. Privately-owned vessels can participate in increasing our knowledge of the ocean by sharing depth measurements from navigation instruments while out at sea. Yachts explore the world’s oceans, often in areas where data is sparse, non-existent or of poor quality. These are exactly the places where contribution of global seafloor mapping efforts can have the greatest impact. Ocean Voyages Institute Macro plastic trackers This was the second Pacific journey our crew  has carried trackers aboard for the brilliant Mary Crowley and her team at Ocean Voyages Institute with the hope of deploying them onto large plastic debris in a limited range of the North Pacific Gyre. You need a somewhat perfect set of conditions - calm sea state, mild winds, and macro plastic to show up at the right time. We were in the research area for a day and although we'd had all three during the overall passage they were never timed together - an important reminder of how hard it is to collect data from our ocean offshore! For more information on any of these projects just get in touch! Until then, we're off to explore California! See a gallery of highlights captured by the crew but all the best ones by Nikkey Dawn !

The first time we spotted a sea turtle from aboard Freeranger was on the passage along the Baja California Mexico coast from Bahía Santa Maria to Cabo San Lucas. We were under full sail, propelled only by wind and had been marvelling the sheer volume of marine life around us. We had humpbacks off our port side now, dolphins in all directions, barking sea lions surfing the waves alongside and birds - magnificent frigates and pelicans - all around. Then the first of five sea turtles cruised on by to shrieks of delight from the crew. We’ve got pretty good at identifying whales and dolphin types but the turtles were new for us especially underway! It was sobering to learn that all five species of sea turtles in Baja California, Mexico are endangered: Hawksbill, Loggerhead, Leatherback, Green Turtle, and Olive Ridley so we quickly went about finding a citizen science project we can contribute to. Upwell is an organisation dedicated to sea turtle conservation and they have a great citizen science Turtle Spotter project in the eastern Pacific. We’ve added it the citizen science directory here ! Good luck if you spot one and can identify it (harder than we thought as they’re so fast!!) - uploading your sightings to their project helps researchers understand changes in populations, movements, foraging locations and habitat conditions It involves using iNaturalist app and our kids are enthusiastic about any chance for permission to get near the iPad so it makes a fun family activity spotting and reporting. Here’s a great sea turtle spotter guide to see who is who! https://www.clubcruceros.net/pdf/SeaTurtleSpotter.pdf Sea turtles migrate thousands of miles each year, and some species can travel over 10,000 miles. Environmental cues like water temperature and daylight length influence the timing and routes of their migration. Turtle season in Baja California is from late August to early December, when the turtles return to lay their eggs on the beaches where they were born. However, turtle releases are becoming more rare due to threats from humans, including: Poaching, Becoming by-catch in unsustainable fishing practices, Coastal development, and Ocean pollution. We hope to take part in some hatchling releases in the next few weeks so watch this space! Cover picture by Wexor Tmg

The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, California is celebrating 50 years of creating a healthy ocean for marine mammals and humans alike! 🌊With ocean conditions rapidly changing, this work is more important than ever! We left FREERANGER in the KKMI yard having some work on the propeller and visited to learn more about the ways they advance ocean health through marine mammal rescue and rehabilitation, research, and education. It was exciting to learn more about many of the marine mammals we have seen so often this summer between BC and California. The center is the world's biggest marine hospital and since 1975, they've rescued more than 26,000 marine mammals along 600 miles of California coastline and the Big Island of Hawai'i. T here are over 40 marine mammals there at the moment. One - a California Sea Lion - was being rescued while we were there! 🐟 We got to watch the “fish smoothies” being prepared and the researchers in the lab examining tests from four post mortems that had just been completed with preliminary causes being toxic poisoning and a shark bite 😳 There were lovely educational and interactive displays and with over 1,300 volunteers there was always someone to ask our questions. Plus their website is packed with educational information and research papers to learn more from 🔬 A highly recommended visit for all ages. Find out more here . And check out our directory of marine mammal citizen science projects you can be involved in here

During our time in Ucluelet, BC we were able to visit Canada's first acclaimed catch-and-release aquarium located on the traditional territory of the Yuułuʔiłʔatḥ – Ucluelet  First Nation. Ucluelet Aquarium is dedicated to raising awareness and respect for the local ocean environment through exhibits of marine life that inhabits the waters of Barkley and Clayoquot Sounds. It was a brilliant experience and one we highly recommend. I'll likely have a few blogs to post about it. But one story that stuck in my mind was about an Orca called J18, known also as "Everett". J18 was a male southern resident killer whale whose life was tragically cut short at 18 years of age. A necropsy revealed severe bacterial infection and stunted reproductive development. The necropsy also found high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) present in his tissues, which are known causes of immune and reproductive impairment. PCBs are highly toxic chemical compounds historically used in products such as industrial lubricants, paints, and adhesives. These pollutants were released into the environment in huge quantities throughout the 20th century, making their way into our ocean, where they persist to this day. By the process of "bioaccumulation", PCBs work their way through marine food webs, beginning with the smallest of organisms and eventually ending up in animals at the top of the food chain - such as killer whales like J18. This was particularly interesting because the inaugural citizen science research with the GOES Foundation that our crew participated in aboard Freeranger when the boat journeyed from New Zealand to Canada in 2023. Taking part in citizen science initiatives like this makes a real difference. Do as we did (do!) and collect samples for the GOES Foundation   who have created an observational study so that we can start to estimate the amount of toxic chemical in the deep ocean. Or, you can help researchers monitor and learn more about the health and wellbeing of local cetacean (whale, dolphin, and porpoise) species by reporting your sightings to the Ocean Wise Sightings Network via the WhaleReport app . The WhaleReport app also helps minimize the threat of vessel disturbance throughout British Columbia and Washington State by using real time sighting reports to alert ship captains of large commercial vessels, such as tankers and ferries, to the presence of whales nearby. This warns them to take measures to reduce the risk of strike and disturbance. Interested in knowing more about how pollution is affecting B.C's coastal waters? Check out Ocean Wise's Pollution Tracker website at pollutiontracker.org to learn more about the most common pollutants contaminating the marine environment and the areas that are most affected. p.s. The lead image isn't J18 .. it's a photo by Farzn Dehbashi sourced from Unsplash because we didn't capture any Orca shots this summer!

We've finally added a tracker to the website! It works best on desktop but there's a link to a nice mobile view on the PredictWind website. Until the 27th September it suggests out latest location is Vancouver but it's a bug! Just look at the prior point for the latest ;-) On the tracker map we have a second blog with updates on where and when we've contributed to science projects and other fun things like that.

We shared our story and plans with the members of the Bluewater Cruising Association in Currents Magazine this month. There’s a heated debate ensuing on the deck of Freeranger . The point in question is whether we should be using ‘the big’ or ‘the small’ weight to maximise our chance of success. Around us other boats aren’t waiting around. Bobbing away in the midday sun, whoops of glee and calls of “fish on” can be heard as everyone makes the most of the newly opened Coho season. The fish are biting. The FOMO is real. But we’re not there for the fish. We’re figuring out how to take a depth reading for the Secchi Disk citizen science project – a study of phytoplankton changes in the world’s oceans – and our Secchi Disk won’t sink properly thanks to the current. “We could just get fishing and tell the Department of Fisheries about the size of anything we catch for their study instead” says our seven-year-old eyeing up his rod and lucky lure hopefully. But conditions are otherwise perfect, and we’re keen to take our first Secchi depth reading as one of many citizen science projects we’ll be contributing to on our world voyage.... - READ the full story here!

July has been an action-packed month for us aboard Freeranger as we settle into our liveaboard life and put new systems and equipment through its paces. We've sailed over 350 miles with highlights including the Gulf Islands, Desolation Sound, Campbell River, and the Broughton Archipelago, British Columbia so far. The marine and wildlife has been incredible. We've spotted dozens of bird species including bald eagles, turkey vultures, loons, cormorants, herons, gulls and more. At sea we've watched Steller sealions, sea otters, river otters, humpback whales, porpoises, white-sided dolphins and plenty of jumping salmon! Deer, mink, Douglas squirrels but as yet no bears! Along the way we are contributing our cetacean sightings to the Ocean Wise’s Sighting Network using the WhaleReport app to support important conservation-based research. And we've started submitting depth readings to the Secchi Disk study to help researchers understand the impact of climate change on phytoplankton . It's a unique global study, and the kids love it because they get to use an app on the iPad to submit our results. We ordered 5 kits in May and hope to be able to share them with other boaters we meet along the way who also want to join in! If you'd like one let us know! The public science project measures the amount of phytoplankton - minute organisms at the very start of the marine food chain - currently residing in the world’s oceans. To check the levels of phytoplankton in our ocean, they've developed a simple piece of equipment that you can order or make yourself and a free smart phone app for sailors and fishermen to use wherever they are in the world. We are at anchor in a charming place called Sointula which aptly means “place of harmony” in Finnish. This charming seaside town on sprawling Malcolm Island was established as a community in 1901 when a colony of Finnish settlers arrived with utopian dreams of building the perfect community. While that vision was derailed within a decade, there’s no question these visionaries chose the right place for a fresh air and salt water paradise on earth! We'll do some provisioning at BC’s longest running cooperative general store, formed as the Sointula Co-operative Store Association in 1909 before heading over to Port Hardy in the coming days.