Day off today, the wind picked up even more than yesterday and the waves were too big to safely launch the dinghy.
I tried to spend this time to rest but it was difficult, I was tossed around in my bunk. Every time we have big seas and I am on the sailboat, I get seasick. This was true today; I got a headache and felt nauseated.
So I spent most of my day trying to sleep and walking up the stair to the deck to get some fresh air.
Ben
View the trailer below for the upcoming Discovery Plus documentary about Ben’s epic expedition across the Pacific Ocean to discover the effects of pollution on ocean health. The documentary will premiere exclusively on Discovery Plus on April 15. To learn more about the documentary, view the following articles: Discovery Plus Releases Trailer for ‘The Swim,’ … Continued
I will keep on swimming even though I reached my goal of 300nm – our mission isn’t over and the perspective I get from under the water is too important to stop. Adam has been a little worried about my low body fat percentage and has done a great job at making sure I have … Continued
We reached the doldrums today. This is an area in the middle of the Great Pacific Garbage without any wind. Also, there are no currents shown on any of the maps we regularly get from land in this area. But for the past few days, storms passing south of us and going toward Hawaii have … Continued
Yesterday was a pretty uneventful day. Yoav shared the dinghy responsibilities with Josh and nothing really stood out. Maybe we are becoming numb to the quantity of plastic we encounter… We had 10 eggs left from the 90 given to us by the Transporter’s chef. I wish we had taken the 180 he originally offered. … Continued
The winds shifted back – they were coming from the north today.This morning we arrived on the north side of the anticyclonic eddy. With calm seas, I started my swim with Heather and David on the dinghy. We had planned to end the day with a photo session of the crew in the water with … Continued
I started my day yesterday with a phone call with Jared from Nomadica Films, the production company from last year’s expedition. We talked about the differences between this expedition and last year’s and how I was in a different mindset. Last year I focused on my performance a lot and every day I pushed myself … Continued
As of today, we have been at sea for 50 days and I have swum 265 nautical miles, but we still have about a month before we will see land.We have planned to spend another week in a new location at the core of the garbage patch. After we will start sailing north to the … Continued
We started the day with a couple of net tows around The Ocean Cleanup device, and once we were finished we said our goodbyes to the Transporter and TOC and sailed off. We have to retrieve a drifter west of us and we expect to get to the area in about two days.There was a … Continued
Last night, I went for a night swim. I put on a second layer of wetsuit on my torso with a hoodie and slide into a dark world. It was surreal, all my usual reference points were distorted. I felt as if I was flying over my swim line, the space between me and the … Continued
Last night the crew shined a light on the water. They wanted to collect lantern fish. During the process a couple of squids came up to get the fish at the surface. This gave me an idea, what if I swim at night with light shining around me, what would I be able to see? … Continued
We have settled on a new plan and route after leaving our rendezvous with captain Charles Moore. We have decided to travel about 200 nm west-south-west to get to drifter F. We will still be in the core of the patch. After reaching this new location, we will move north in the direction of the … Continued
Josh and Adam were up early in the dinghy with the drone and our net was deployed to synchronize our activities with the satellite fight over. Those footage will be used by Nikolai, the scientist working on refining his ocean current model. David and Hannah on the dinghy, spotted a turtle in my first hour … Continued
Praying for you Ben
Dear Ben – about your motion sickness…do the motion sickness wrist
bands not work for you? If you don’t have any, and could arrange several pairs to reach you when you have your next drop off/pick up point, I can recommend them highly. I have gotten amazing relief from vertigo, nausea during chemotherapy and use them when I sail as well as fly. They work by applying pressure to the Nei-Kuan point on your wrists. I hope you get some rest and respite from the big seas. My grandsons and I check on you each and every morning. Blessings, Gail A.
Aloha Ben, I’m not a doctor but I understand and have experienced the misery of your sea-sicknes in the open ocean. Another possible solution is a prescription med called phenergan. It’s an anti-nausea medication usually given to chemo therapy patients but it works really well for motion sickness, too.
Just want you to know I’ve been following you and your awesome team from the start and send warm aloha from Kona to each of you. Feel better and may you have fair winds, smooth seas and favorable currents. You are helping to save our oceans, earth and humanity! No matter how rough it gets out there, please know in your heart that people really care what you are doing for all of us. Mahalo nui loa and kia haha, Jane
Hey Ben, I have been following your blog everyday now, it has sort of become a part of my routione and my day does not finish without reading it.
Saying that you are an inspiration would be an understatment. You are way more than that. The way you are moving forward with your journey, with your decision to swim the pacific ocean gives me the strenght to move forward with my decisions and goals in life. It makes me think that its okay to feel nauseated sometimes or take a day off or to even take a step back sometimes when the situations are not right. You have taught to me keep moving foward and have hope that the next day will be better. I had always known this things but seeing you practicing all of this everyday on your blog makes me beileve in it.
You journey has changed the prespective of how I look at my goals now and I would like to thank you for that 🙂 .
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