WRITTEN BY IRINA MARIA PETERSON
LEG 7 GALAPAGOS TO EASTER ISLAND WITH PERKINELMER
I was so excited the day I was accepted to be part of the eXXpedition crew and participate in an incredible sailing and research voyage between Galapagos and Easter Island! I spent the rest of 2019 preparing for this trip, educating myself, fundraising, impressed by the profiles of the other SEAsters on the voyage. The other exciting day was when we all met in the Galapagos, on the 15th of February, ready to board the boat! I finally got to meet all these exceptional women and looked forward to sharing 20 days together aboard SV TravelEdge, the eXXpedition vessel!
I was expecting spartan and quite tough sailing conditions, but nothing prepared me for this. From the moment we left Galapagos we were continuously on an 30 degree inclination and this became our normal state. Imagine doing everything, and I mean everything at such an incline. My bunk bed was leaning towards the galley, so in order to remain in it and be able to sleep, I will be leaning against a net, locked at all times. A lot of things to adjust to…and my body didn’t take so well to it. I was confronted by bouts of sea sickness despite the tablets being taken religiously, despite the homeopathic treatment I brought with me and despite the pressure points bracelets I’ve been wearing. Nothing seemed to work! And I just didn’t seem to adjust to the shift times 4 hours on-duty, 8 hours pause and so on. The duties would involve anything from sailing the boat, cooking lunch or dinner, cleaning the boat’s various parts. The others seemed to adjust much faster to the rhythm and also were not as affected by sea sickness.
Photo credit: Irina Maria Peterson / eXXpedition
I’ve been sailing for almost twenty years, but only in the Mediterranean sea and I’ve experienced different type of boats, but never the Pacific Ocean and surely not this path. There must be serious reasons why there are only about 20 vessels doing our route in an entire year. Our boat is incredibly safe, equipped with all sorts of back up measures and the crew very experienced. And here I am, the imperfect sailor, pushing my limits to the max and still feeling like a fraud compared to the rest of the crew.
I reached a low point on day 6 of the voyage, when my body just couldn’t cope with the sea, the sailing, the activities, the ocean’s lack of mercy towards me. This surely wasn’t what I was dreaming about for a whole year to experience! It was tough to feel that I am not contributing enough compared to the other girls, nor doing enough for my Ocean Amazon documentary. As I was laying down on my tiny bunk bed in the night and feeling each wave moving every inch of my body, I had a revelation. I realized that as long as I will resist and react to whatever happens to me, I will be suffering, overwhelmed by the ocean’s movement, the sailing conditions and a sleeping rhythm completely different than what I was used to. In this moment, I allowed myself to be vulnerable, even in the face of fear, and surrendered to what is. I realized that although I cannot change the outside factors, there are things that I can control: my breath, my mindset, my connection to the other women on-board.
It is by looking fear in the eye and saying “not today” that helped me to break free of my suffering and allowed me to level up on my journey. It is this shift in mindset that helped me find inner strength and confidence. And I took one breath at the time, building one positive thought after another, finding strength in each act of kindness from the other women towards me, their jokes and uplifting comments. And defying my sickness, distracting myself looking at the beautiful skies full of stars, the surreal sunrises and sunsets and the wonderful bond which was creating between us on-board.
From this moment, my journey had a radical shift. I felt better, I was able to participate in all the activities and enjoy the incredible journey I was on!
I am sharing this blog as we reached Easter Island. What an incredible moment it was, when we saw land on the horizon, all of us excited to touch land after 20 days on the boat, yet at the same time, nostalgic that it was all coming to an end! Having shared such amazing moments with my SEAsters, building a bond and connection beyond words and committed to be agents of change back in our communities.
The fact I am an imperfect sailor, not really prepared for such a sailing voyage, shows even more to the extent will I go to be part of the movement to protect our oceans and planet. Pretty much as I am an imperfect activist. I think it is essential to connect the consequences of our use of plastics with the state of the ocean in order to create awareness and change. None of us are living in the way we really need to in order to steer the future of our planet in a different direction. We are all limited by the realities of living in society as it is now: and it is the structures of that society that really need to change. I’m certainly not diminishing the role of individual actions, they matter very much. We should all be mindful of the choices we make every day, and try to make them as sustainable as we can, because they impact our environment, our ocean.
One of the great workshop we did onboard during our journey was the ‘SHiFT’ workshop under Winnie’s guidance (Dr Winnie Courtney-Jones, the Science Lead for eXXpedition). Each one of us had to present solutions to protect the ocean, whether at the source or as a last resort before plastics and garbage enter it. The solutions were different for everyone. There are a myriad of things that we can do, from carrying a reusable cup to refusing plastic straws, to clean up beaches, install filters on the drainage systems that flow into the ocean, refuse to purchase goods packaged in single use plastics. Each and every one of these decisions is a step in the right direction – but if we can’t do as much as we’d like as an individual we shouldn’t feel disqualified from the environmental movement altogether. In fact quite the opposite.
What we need is to be able to make these individual choices easy – where it’s not more expensive or more difficult to opt for the path that is going to preserve the planet for the next generation. Our group concluded that we need to be putting pressure on governments and corporations to make decisions on a macro level which will enable us to live our lives in a way which not only protects the environment we depend on but improves it. And those governments, those corporations – they need to be putting in place policies that will maximise the potential for humans to turn this world around.
Photo credit:Irina Maria Peterson / eXXpedition
Because it is within this decade that we shall act, and the potential is incredible!
If we could all put our shame and paralysis to one side – our guilt for the comforts we have come to depend on, for not having taken decisive action before now – then this could be a time of great opportunity! We need to accept the realities of the lives we have led up until now, to forgive ourselves for the choices we have made. It is only when we take this step that we will be able to open our hearts to the magnitude of the challenge we are facing, and set our minds upon the epic and essential task of finding solutions. And it is important to start with the first step and then the next will follow. Not let ourselves overwhelmed by the immensity of the challenge, but by the opportunity that awaits.
I am an imperfect human, sailor and activist! I believe what the world needs right now is millions of imperfect activists just like myself who can each contribute in their way every day! And if we all step up, as willing imperfect activists, then we can fight this battle together. And together we can win.
Looking back on my navigation and research with eXXpedition, I am thrilled by this incredible experience and enriched in more ways than I could have dreamed of! Very grateful for the opportunity and stronger than ever.
Was it hard? Yes!
Was it worth it? Absolutely YES!
Irina Maria Peterson aka Ocean Amazon – the imperfect activist.
Desert Island Song: Life – Des’ree
Must Have Luxury Items: My Bio instant coffee and a satellite phone
