Would you rather take a voyage to the wreck of the Titanic or to the edge of space? A ticket for either happens to start at around $250,000, which makes the likelihood of experiencing either well out of reach for … Continue reading
Category Archives: Current
In what is described as the first carbon-free humanitarian logistics effort, Grain de Sail has announced that it is partnering with two non-profits to deliver unused medical supplies from New York to the Dominican Republic by sail. Grain de Sail … Continue reading
A recent report by the National Academy of Public Administration concluded that the US Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point has “lost its way.” The congressionally ordered review of the federal merchant marine academy determined that the school was beset … Continue reading
In 2017, we posted about an attempt to use Navy-trained dolphins in a last-ditch effort to capture and save the few surviving vaquita. The vaquita is a small porpoise found only in the Gulf of California that is in imminent … Continue reading
In August we posted Yara Birkeland, Crewless Electric Container Ship, First Voyage by Year’s End. We noted that if all went according to plan, the ship would make its first journey between two Norwegian towns before the end of the … Continue reading
For several years, we have followed the Planetary Society‘s efforts to launch a solar sail that would be propelled by the light radiating from the Sun. In July 2019, the society’s LightSail 2 deployed a 32-square-meter solar sail, about the … Continue reading
Following pressure from the United States, work has been halted on what intelligence agencies believe was a secret Chinese military facility under construction in a commercial port in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Wall Street Journal reported that satellite imagery … Continue reading
Millions of bright red crabs have begun their yearly mating migration from the forest to the sea on Australia’s Christmas Island. The scarlet crabs are marching from the jungle toward the Indian Ocean, swarming roadways, parks, and residential neighborhoods, so … Continue reading
The maxi-trimaran Sails of Change (ex-Spindrift 2) and its crew of 11, led by Dona Bertarelli and Yann Guichard, are awaiting a favorable weather window to set off from La Trinité-sur-Mer, in southwest Brittany, on their latest attempt to claim … Continue reading
Recently, the media has been reporting the capture by lobsterman Billy Coppersmith of a rare “cotton candy” colored lobster. The speckled iridescent blue lobster, said to be a one in a 100 million catch, will not be sold or cooked. … Continue reading
Great news! David O’Neill, director of the Falls of Clyde International, announced yesterday on Facebook that their bid to remove the historic tall ship Falls of Clyde, from Honolulu harbor, has been accepted by the state officials at the Department … Continue reading
On late Thursday, November 18, and early Friday, November 19, those watching the sky over much of the globe will see the longest partial lunar eclipse in almost 600 years. The eclipse will last for nearly 3 and a half … Continue reading
The Barents Observer reports that more than 20 ships are either stuck or struggling to make it through increasingly thick sea-ice on the Arctic Northern Sea Route. They report that over the past several years, shipping along the Russian northern … Continue reading
An updated repost. Like so many other species, Galápagos green sea turtles are unique to the archipelago. Here is a short video of snorkeling with Galápagos green sea turtles off Punto Cormorant on Floreana Island in the Galapagos in early November, 2017. … Continue reading
We recently posted about how the US Navy’s last two non-nuclear carriers were sold for scrap for the modest sum of one cent each. By some standards, that was not such a bad deal. A recent report by the General … Continue reading
My wife and I took an incredible trip to the Galapagos in 2017. An updated repost. We spent a week on Ecoventura‘s 83’ MY Eric and visited six of the more eastern islands of the archipelago. We saw many of … Continue reading
The Chinese military has built targets in the shape of an American aircraft carrier and other U.S. warships in the Taklamakan desert as part of a new target range complex, according to photos from satellite imagery company Maxar. USNI News … Continue reading
On Saturday, we posted about the world’s largest electric ferry. Here is a very different electric watercraft, an all-electric hydrofoil runabout that literally flies above the water. Candela Speed Boat AB has been referred to by Bloomberg as “Sweden’s Tesla … Continue reading
What could be more gloriously incongruous than sailing on a replica 9th-century Viking longship and sipping whisky on a blustery Autumn day in New York harbor? Here is an updated repost: In late October 2018, I was fortunate enough to … Continue reading
The Daily Scandinavian reported that last March the world’s largest all-electric ferry went into full operation on the 5.67 nautical mile route between the two Norwegian cities of Moss and Horten, on Norway’s busiest ferry route. The new ferry, named … Continue reading