Editor's Note: Scuba instructor and underwater videographer Drew Wheeler  is traveling on board the Algalita Marine Research Foundation's 50-foot Ocean Research Vessel, Alguita, on a two-month voyage to sample and study portions of a 10-million-square-mile oval known as the North Subtropical Gyre (aka "Pacific garbage patch"). Wheeler and the rest of the Alguita crew left Long Beach, Calif., on June 10 with a plan to cross the International Date Line and investigate regions of reported high plastic concentrations, northwest of the Hawaiian Islands. This is his eighth blog post for Scientific American.com.

6,714 miles traveled

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Editor's Note: Scuba instructor and underwater videographer Drew Wheeler is traveling on board the Algalita Marine Research Foundation's 50-foot Ocean Research Vessel, Alguita, on a two-month voyage to sample and study portions of a 10-million-square-mile oval known as the North Subtropical Gyre (aka "Pacific garbage patch"). Wheeler and the rest of the Alguita crew left Long Beach, Calif., on June 10 with a plan to cross the International Date Line and investigate regions of reported high plastic concentrations, northwest of the Hawaiian Islands. This is his seventh blog post for Scientific American.com.

Miles traveled: 4,735

As a SCUBA instructor for Surf and Sea in Haleiwa, Oahu, I'm able periodically to swim with Hawaii's favorite spinner dolphins and have even had the opportunity to see bottlenose dolphins.

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Editor's Note: Scuba instructor and underwater videographer Drew Wheeler is traveling on board the Algalita Marine Research Foundation's 50-foot Ocean Research Vessel, Alguita, on a two-month voyage to sample and study portions of a 10-million-square-mile oval known as the North Subtropical Gyre (aka "Pacific garbage patch"). Wheeler and the rest of the Alguita crew left Long Beach, Calif., on June 10 with a plan to cross the International Date Line and investigate regions of reported high plastic concentrations, northwest of the Hawaiian Islands. This is his sixth blog post for Scientific American.com

July 14th…no wait the 15th…(but if I walk to the other side of the boat, is it tomorrow?!)

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Editor's Note: Scuba instructor and underwater videographer Drew Wheeler is traveling on board the Algalita Marine Research Foundation's 50-foot Ocean Research Vessel, Alguita, on a two-month voyage to sample and study portions of a 10-million-square-mile oval known as the North Subtropical Gyre (aka "Pacific garbage patch"). Wheeler and the rest of the Alguita crew left Long Beach, Calif., on June 10 with a plan to cross the International Date Line and investigate regions of reported high plastic concentrations, northwest of the Hawaiian Islands. This is his fifth blog post for Scientific American.com

July 11, 2009 (Day 31)

Over 4,000 miles traveled.

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Editor's Note: Scuba instructor and underwater videographer Drew Wheeler is traveling on board the Algalita Marine Research Foundation's 50-foot (15.2-meter) Ocean Research Vessel, Alguita, on a two-month voyage to sample and study portions of a 10-million-square-mile (25.9-million-square-kilometer) oval known as the North Subtropical Gyre (aka "Pacific garbage patch"). Wheeler and the rest of the Alguita crew left Long Beach, Calif., on June 10 with a plan to cross the International Date Line and investigate regions of reported high plastic concentrations, northwest of the Hawaiian Islands. This is his fourth blog post for Scientific American.com

July 2, 2009

Over 3,000 miles (4,828 kilometers) traveled.

After a brief three-day pit stop in Honolulu for repairs to the manta trawl [see Wheeler's June 22 entry] and the spinnaker and a little R&R, we departed Oahu around 7 P.M. Monday night (June 30) on what has turned out to be the second leg of our Journey to the Center of the Trash.

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Editor's Note: Scuba instructor and underwater videographer Drew Wheeler is traveling on board the Algalita Marine Research Foundation's 50-foot (15.2-meter) Ocean Research Vessel, Alguita, on a two-month voyage to sample and study portions of a 10-million-square-mile (25.9-million-square-kilometer) oval known as the North Subtropical Gyre (aka "Pacific garbage patch"). Wheeler and the rest of the Alguita crew left Long Beach, Calif., on June 10 with a plan to cross the International Date Line and investigate regions of reported high plastic concentrations, northwest of the Hawaiian Islands. This is his third blog post for ScientificAmerican.com.

June 23, 2009

Day 14—We Found Plastic!!!

Currently, we are sailing wing and wing downwind on a direct heading to Oahu, Hawaii. Yesterday was a good day despite all that happened with the Manta Trawl because we achieved one of the objectives of our voyage—we found some plastic.

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Editor's Note: Scuba instructor and underwater videographer Drew Wheeler is traveling on board the Algalita Marine Research Foundation's 50-foot (15.2-meter) Ocean Research Vessel, Alguita, on a two-month voyage to sample and study portions of a 10-million-square-mile (25.9-million-square-kilometer) oval known as the North Subtropical Gyre (aka "Pacific garbage patch"). Wheeler and the rest of the Alguita crew left Long Beach, Calif., on June 10 with a plan to cross the International Date Line and investigate regions of reported high plastic concentrations, northwest of the Hawaiian Islands. This is his second blog post for ScientificAmerican.com.

June 22, 2009

Over 2,000 miles (3,218.7 kilometers) traveled.

Despite having plans changed by the poor wind of week one, week two has been a bit more eventful.

Once we decided to take on the task of sampling the area indicated by NOAA Coastal watch, (see previous installment of Wheeler's blog) we set a course almost due west. With brisk trade winds, we had some fun days of solid sailing with just the spinnaker flying. We had gusts up to 30 knots (34.5 miles per hour) and the Alguita scooted along at 14 knots (16.1 miles per hour). We made such good time that Capt. [Charles] Moore decided to stow the chute and run with the main and staysail up to slow us down so we wouldn't arrive on location in the middle of the night. It's never fun to set trawls at 2 a.m.

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Editor's Note: Scuba instructor and underwater videographer Drew Wheeler is traveling on board the Algalita Marine Research Foundation's 50-foot (15.2-meter) Ocean Research Vessel, Alguita, on a two-month voyage to sample and study portions of a 10-million-square-mile (25.9-million-square-kilometer) oval known as the North Subtropical Gyre (aka "Pacific garbage patch"). Wheeler and the rest of the Alguita crew left Long Beach, Calif., on June 10 with a plan to cross the International Date Line and investigate regions of reported high plastic concentrations, northwest of the Hawaiian Islands. This is his first blog post for ScientificAmerican.com.

June 17, 2009

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Earlier this spring, Peggy Delaney wrote about her expedition to drill core ocean floor samples for 60 Seconds in the Mid-Pacific. Delaney's two-month trip aboard the JOIDES Resolution Drill Ship presented some challenges, including finicky toilets and the difficulty of being away from home—"away from everything"—she says.

ScientificAmerican.com got an inside look at a similar research ship headed off the coast of New Jersey (see videos here) on an even longer, 80-day research trip for expedition 313.

But the trip was absolutely worth the trials, she explains: "It's always just so wonderful to be at sea to do that type of coring with a group." She delighted in "the power of working in a group of scientists, [uniting] with all different specialties to work on a single set of objectives. You really can't put it into words."

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Editor's Note: Peggy Delaney is sailing on a newly refurbished research vessel, the JOIDES Resolution, that left Honolulu on March 10 with an international group of researchers on board. The ship, supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation, conducts scientific investigations beneath the seafloor by drilling the ocean floor and retrieving long “cores” of mud for testing and data collection. This is her thirteenth blog post. To see all her posts, see "60 Seconds in the Mid-Pacific."

SOMEWHERE IN THE MID-PACIFIC (April 29, 2009)—We are underway toward Hawaii now, with the JOIDES Resolution averaging at least 11 knots. I just stepped outside for a few minutes of my 3 A.M. break, and I got to thinking about the night sky, the science of the expedition, and life at home.

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