Hello everyone, it's Tuesday the 29th of July onboard the Malizia Explorer and we are heading to our next destination. I thought it would be nice to share a few insights into our past week here at sea and look back at our recent mission off the coast of Senegal with the ECOPs (Early Career Ocean Professionals).
We had a full crew on board made up of students and researchers from across Senegalese universities. The goal: support national efforts to protect ecologically valuable offshore zones through plankton sampling and oceanographic monitoring.
The crew was a mix of students and experts. One expert was focused on fisheries and pollution, the other was a plankton specialist. Ousmane Badji was the lead, and a fantastic one at that. Everyone was motivated, a bit shy at first, but quickly got into the rhythm of life at sea with a bunch of strangers.
Our main tasks were plankton collection. Plankton samples were collected using a net towed for three minutes at low speeds… 1.5 to 2 knots ideally. Once back on board, samples were cleaned, split between educational use and preserved for lab analysis in formalin. After the first test run 12 miles off Dakar, we set sail north for a night passage. Unfortunately with nightfall came seasickness and most of the team went down one by one. Even with calm weather and gentle seas, being onboard a sailing vessel, when you are not used to it, can be tough.
Over the next few days, we covered ground efficiently: night collections, early morning work, long days zigzagging between fishing nets and dodging gear we often couldn’t see until too late, cutting through a few unmarked nets that were up to 500 metres long (sorry, local fishers!).
There were also some observation sites further south near Gambia, which took us into quite shallow and muddy waters. It wasn’t safe or practical to navigate closer without risking damage to the boat, so we launched the tender for upriver sampling. Whilst some of the team were collecting samples, the others made spontaneous use of our diving kit to observe the seabed, collecting seaweed and shells for further analysis and others visited a nearby shipwreck, which was quite amazing to see!
One moment that stood out amongst all was collecting plankton at 2am with a flaming oil rig glowing in the background. There we were, quietly working on scientific research and effectively engaging in marine conservation, while this giant industrial platform burned into the night just a couple of miles away. Whilst it was an impressive sight to see a kind of floating city, the collision of these two worlds was quite a mind-bender for me.
Fast forward to the end of the mission and all of the crew had properly found their sea legs. We finished with a final sample collection off the northern coast before returning to Dakar. Before saying au revoir, everyone received a certificate of participation, which was a small gesture, but an important one, especially for the younger scientists just starting out.
After dropping the ECOPs off, it was just us Malizia Explorer crew mates left on Sunday, so we took a short trip to Gorée Island. It’s a beautiful place with a very sad history, having been one of the main departure points in the Atlantic slave trade.
Monday before departure brought the usual paperwork of collecting exit stamps for our passports before leaving and with it a small hiccup with port authorities, but that’s a story for another day!
All in all, it was a hot, intense and rewarding week. Plenty learned, plenty shared. And now we’re en route to Cape Verde, where our next mission is set to begin on the 31st of July.
Signing off now,
Captain Jonathan