I sailed to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch to see what was there. I collected some of the plastic trash, collected biological samples of marine life that have adapted to living on plastic, and took photos and videos of what I saw.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch covers an area of about 2000nm wide and 1000nm tall ranging from about 500nm West of the Northern California Coast to a few hundred nm East of Japan. The largest concentrations of debris are in the Eastern boundary, just off California, and the Western boundary, just South East of Japan.
I could see debris within a few minutes of looking in any direction. Most of the waste is floating just a few inches under the surface of the water. It's suspended in this 'floating' state a few inches to a few feet under the surface of the water. This makes it impossible to see from the air.
You can read more about my voyage on my website: SV Blue Moon
Here are a couple photos of my voyage to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch:
![[Image: capt-russ-holding-plastic-coka-cola-crat...3_orig.jpg]](https://www.svbluemoon.com/uploads/7/6/3/7/76379773/capt-russ-holding-plastic-coka-cola-crate-great-pacific-garbage-patch-sv-blue-moon-3_orig.jpg)
![[Image: coka-cola-crate-in-the-middle-of-the-gre...n_orig.jpg]](https://www.svbluemoon.com/uploads/7/6/3/7/76379773/coka-cola-crate-in-the-middle-of-the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-sv-blue-moon_orig.jpg)
![[Image: pregnant-female-crab-with-eggs-living-on...n_orig.jpg]](https://www.svbluemoon.com/uploads/7/6/3/7/76379773/pregnant-female-crab-with-eggs-living-on-coka-cola-plastic-crate-great-pacific-garbage-patch-sv-blue-moon_orig.jpg)
![[Image: industrial-bucket-with-satellite-tracker...n_orig.jpg]](https://www.svbluemoon.com/uploads/7/6/3/7/76379773/industrial-bucket-with-satellite-tracker-and-bio-tile-deployed-in-the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-sv-blue-moon_orig.jpg)
![[Image: satellite-tracker-and-bio-tile-attached-...n_orig.jpg]](https://www.svbluemoon.com/uploads/7/6/3/7/76379773/satellite-tracker-and-bio-tile-attached-to-industrial-bucket-great-pacific-garbage-patch-sv-blue-moon_orig.jpg)
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch covers an area of about 2000nm wide and 1000nm tall ranging from about 500nm West of the Northern California Coast to a few hundred nm East of Japan. The largest concentrations of debris are in the Eastern boundary, just off California, and the Western boundary, just South East of Japan.
I could see debris within a few minutes of looking in any direction. Most of the waste is floating just a few inches under the surface of the water. It's suspended in this 'floating' state a few inches to a few feet under the surface of the water. This makes it impossible to see from the air.
You can read more about my voyage on my website: SV Blue Moon
Here are a couple photos of my voyage to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch: