A Journey With a Clear Purpose: "Keep Alive What Brings You Life"

By Belén Garcia Ovide, Safina Center Launchpad Fellow

Recently, my organization Ocean Missions set off for a week on our fifth expedition along the Icelandic coast onboard the magnificent electric Schooner Ópal. The feeling of being on one of the few vessels setting sail for an adventure during these still-difficult Covid times is teaching us something important: If you truly believe in something, it will happen, and that is how, after a long path of uncertainty and obstacles, our so desired journey finally began...

Photo: Ópal sails forth! ©Belén Garcia Ovide

Coinciding with the spring’s annual explosion of life at the Icelandic coast, Ópal set sail from Húsavík, home for us and many of Iceland’s whales. This time, we had a group of young enthusiastic women from different countries, and our friend Bill from the USA, come together to get inspired, to witness and learn about the problems that our oceans are facing, to develop skills, to make connections and to work together to make a difference. 

Many people travel to Iceland to experience the unique nature and vast landscapes that this land can offer, but very few people have explored the wonders of the country from the ocean, which brings a whole new perspective.

Extraordinary wildlife, huge cliffs, glaciers, giant nesting bird colonies and whales; everything connected by the oceans, the wind and the water currents. When at sea, it all made perfect sense and we were just part of it, witnessing the most fascinating phenomenon of nature: life! 

After that, emotions were a mix between extreme gratitude and worry about losing some of these treasures. When you realize that you are so interconnected with nature and part of the whole system, something pulls straight at your heart, it feels like the survival instinct asking you to save your home, that suddenly it is not just your house, but the entire planet. After a touching experience like this, most people experience a meaningful change inside them, as they evolve into a more natural and humble human being, with a mindset based on respect and self-responsibility towards the natural world.

Photo: Ópal’s crew marveling at the beauty of Iceland. ©Belén Garcia Ovide

Photo: Humpback whale. ©Belén Garcia Ovide.

When we arrived to Siglufjörður (a small town in northern Iceland) we did a beach clean-up and a 100-meter transect survey in a place that we cleaned previously 8 months before. It is soul stirring to discover that on that same beach we collected over 350 kilograms of trash, with most of it being fishing gear such as ropes and nets. This is just an example of how our oceans are suffocated due the huge plastic pollution problem. Even in remote areas near the Westfjords we found pieces of buoys, fish containers, and other domestic trash.

Photo: Human trash, mostly plastic, ends up even in the most remote areas of Iceland. ©Belén Garcia Ovide.

Once we sailed over the Westfjords, the weather was stunning! More than seven humpback whales were feeding and roaming freely in the sunset lights of a calm evening outside Ísafjörður, where we also deployed our manta trawl in the water for one of our microplastic surveys.

Photo: Ópal rests ouside Ísafjörður. ©Belén Garcia Ovide

Photo: Examining the contents of a manta trawl, a device used to study plastic in the ocean. ©Belén Garcia Ovide

Magic colours, eternal sunsets, and favourbale winds to sail! The ocean was unusally very calm when we were sailing by Snaefellsnes peninsula so we could witness some of probably the most extraordinary natural ladscapes in Iceland. We got close to the guillemot colonies, hidden caves and anchored below Snæfellsjökull glacier.

Photo: Ópal. ©©Ása Steinarsdóttir

Photo: Guillemots. ©Ása Steinarsdóttir

And the wind kept blowing on our side taking us all the way to Reykjavík where we ended our journey…. And how privileged are we when we think that that before saying bye to our participants, we could still go and see the outstanding volcano that is still erupting in Geldingadalir? The best natural spectacle to compel us finish our adventure with tears of emotion, thinking of how wonderful our planet is!

Photo: Volcano a Geldingadalir. ©Belén Garcia Ovide