Day 3

Day 3

The day started with some keen workers going for a morning dip in the 16deg waters of Schooner Cove, due to the unfavourable surfing conditions this was the first wash for many!

We then set sail for Green Island Main beach, a veritable treasure trove of small plastics buried amongst the fragrant rotting kelp the area is well known for. It didn't disappoint and the team gathered over 15000 pieces in 3-4hours of intense pit diving.
Matt also used the time to refine his 3D mapping techniques using drones and GPS in a most impressive display of technological wizardy.
Whilst the count was lower than previous years, we were still disappointed to see that such a huge quantity of plastic had accumulated since last year, but most notably in smaller forms.
The afternoons adventures in plastic continued further around the corner at The Duckhole, a quite pleasant stoney beach underlayed with mountains of rope hairs and more small plastics. Lucky us! Masaaki fabricated some spectacular eyewear in form of two holey limpets, which provided some excellent sun protection from the blazing sunshine. Technical difficulty here of 8/10 due to prolific stinging nettles and jackjumper nests, and at least one Tiger snake was spotted. Final tally for this extraction coming soon!

We then headed to South East Bight to try and escape the neverending roll of the exposed West Coast where we have anchored for the night.

The plan for tomorrow in to head to Towterer, but while writing this we have just been informed that The Mulcahy is more likely due to weather conditions. This may well change a few times before we set off tomorrow and we will end up where the wind blows us, as is the norm on the cleanup. Wherever we go there will be rubbish to collect we can be sure of that !

Dayna, Harbs and Joey

Photos from Monday morning

Rex lands the drone back on the boat after getting some great pictures and video of the boats leaving Port Davey on Monday morning.

Theo checking if some Crays are legal to keep. This one was a bi too small so we let it go.

Now we are cleaning up Green island main beach, there is always a lot of rubbish mixed in with rotting kelp, YUK!

Sunday

After an early rise, we made our way from Ketchem Bay, around South West Cape and into the sheltered waters of Spain Bay. Abundant wildlife encountered along the way and even tuna landed…. and lost! The first clean of the trip was Spain Bay beach. We stared at the western end, working our way to the east. It was a good warm up day for the large clean up crew on the beach. Everyone got the chance to get their eye in and zone in on the thousands of tiny pieces of plastic. We steamed around the corner into Schooner Cove and rafted up the boats to get stuck into the count. The rubbish count was higher than expected but the many hands made light work of it. Another very rewarding day for Team Clean!!!!!

Quick morning update

The troops from the Rumours and the Velocity rallied down at the wharf at Southport this morning. Excitement was rippling through the air. Any human that's been lucky enough to venture around the South West cape before know's that we're in for a treat. Only the eyes of the fortunate few that have rested upon this raw and inaccessible part of the earth. Rugged and dramatic, the South West Cape lurches out of the ocean, making feel small and insignificant in the shadow of the majestic coastline. For this very reason the anticipation was palpable.

The sun beamed down  as we packed the last of our supplies onto the decks, and put our ginger beers on ice in preparation for the journey ahead. Rumours and Velocity steamed out of port at close to 10:30am.

The Breaksea steamed down to Dover last night, and departed at a similar time to us this morning. Wilson Voyager got the jump on us having left Hobart last night, and anchoring at Recerche for the
night... They are out in front.

When we hit the exposed ocean, we look set to encounter a solid 4 meter swell with the icing on the cake being a 1.5m chop of sea on top... As we round the corner we'll be greeted by a friendly 25 knot nor'westerly headwind. Looking forward to some exciting adventures ahead...

School kids and Team Clean gearing up to tackle plastic pollution

Tasmania’s most extreme beach cleaners (that's us) have launched a ground-breaking education program ahead of their annual expedition to clean up some of Australia’s most remote beaches in Tasmania’s spectacular World Heritage Area.

“As a society we are still letting vast amounts of plastic get into the environment. A comprehensive education campaign is the only way to empower the next generation of leaders to act decisively on this global issue”
Matt Dell,  Cleanup Coordinator.

This year, for the first time, students from across Australia will have the chance to learn about the impacts of marine debris first hand via ‘Coast Watchers’, an innovative new education program, as teacher Pat Spiers and student Theo Wolfhagen join the crew through a partnership with the Bookend Trust. 

Coast Watchers aims to help schools investigate the pressing issue of marine debris, through an interactive online blog, lesson plans that are mapped to both primary and secondary school curriculums and resources for schools to conduct beach clean ups in their local area.

Coast Watchers will begin tomorrow, when Team Clean’s crew of 28 hardy volunteers will board four local fishing boats and head to the south-west coast to tackle the wave of marine debris head on. Last year, the team cleaned up a record-breaking 82,815 pieces of rubbish that had washed ashore in Tasmania’s spectacular World Heritage Area.

Coast Watchers will reach hundreds of primary and high school students across the country, with 20 schools signing up to join the program.

“Plastic pollution is trashing some of our most precious beaches. We’re absolutely committed to fighting this toxic wave of marine debris that’s choking our oceans and helping to develop a new generation of coastal custodians,” said Mr Dell.

Check it all out at the Coast Watchers website – http://www.coastwatchers.com.au 

The first provisions

The morning was spent checking out the new Gillespies Ginger Beer factory out at Barilla Bay. Sam has been a long term supporter, supplying the crew with free ginger beer and even it making it around the coast a few years back. I find the non alcoholic beverage a perfect tonic for those unfortunate enough to feel seasick in the first few days of the voyage.

It was also the Cleanups birthday with two loads of goodies for the crew arriving from Patagonia, Ula helped divvy up the spoils for each of the four boats. Thanks to Matt and Dane at Patagonia Australia.

The forecast is looking better by the day hopefully we can get the two boats from Hobart away sometime tomorrow afternoon. 

8 Days to go!

With 8 days to go the crew are all in preparation mode with jobs to finish up, and gear to get ready for what looks like interesting trip around the coast.  This year a crew of 28 will make the voyage around to the remote beaches of  South west Tasmania. We will be documenting our journey this site as well as Instagram, Facebook and Cosatwatchers our online interactive curriculum for Primary and High School students. The long term forecast has us facing a rather large swell and plenty of wind. Hopefully the forecast as wrong......