We started the day with a net tow to collect microplastics. After the tow, we started our swim day. The crew would do 2 more net tows before the end of the day and we broke our record. In the second two they counted 514 pieces of microplastic.
Corbin and Drew were on the dinghy. The water temperature seamed lower than yesterday, I soon as I jumped in the water I could feel the cold water running down my back, I kept my arms wrapped around my chest until the swim line got attached to the dinghy and I could start swimming. I started faster to generate some heat in my first few strokes.
I was right below the 100 nm marker when I started this morning and Corbin asked me how it felt to reach 100 nm today. I didn’t have a good answer for him since I pay little attention to the number of miles I have to cover. It is hard to wrap my mind over a high number, it would destabilize me to focus on the 200 nm I still have to cover. Instead I focus on my day and don’t think about miles, I just know that if I put in the hours eventually I will get there.
Toward the end of the day, Drew jumped in the water and swam with me for one hour. He didn’t use a snorkel and had to deal with water going into his mouth each time he turned his head to breath and a wave came at the wrong moment. Salt water in the mouth is for me one of the most difficult aspects of swimming long hours in the ocean. By the end of the day, I have little blisters inside my lips from the rub of the snorkel and salt water. The constant taste of sea water gives me nausea by the end of the day.
I shared the last hour with Corbin. Unlike Drew he had a snorkel. Swimming the last two hours with them made those hours go faster.
30°05 N / 142°22 W
Ben
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Photo credits @joshmunoz, @sea.marshall, @osleston
