Today we had the opportunity to tour Greenpeace's largest vessel "Esperanza" which was docked for a day at the Broadway Pier here in San Diego, CA. 

We were shocked to learn about the phenomenon of trash vortexes in the ocean's currents.  Apparently, Greenpeace scientists and workers have just toured one such vortex right off one of the Hawaiian islands.  These are naturally occurring vortexes created by the ocean currents.  In these certain spots, trash (plastic to be exact) is just swirling around in giant masses.  The vortex off the coast of Hawaii is larger then the state of Texas!!!  I just can't even wrap my brain around that one... 

We got to see photographic images taken by the crew during the past year's voyage which were strung up on both sides of the ship.  One side of the ship showed us the beauty and splendor of the sea and it's creatures, while the other side showed the destruction, the pollution, and the tragedy.  It was really sad.  One photo that stands clear in my mind were the contents of a dead albatross's stomach.  We could make out several different colored plastic soda lids, different shapes and sizes of broken pieces of plastic something or another, a plastic wheel from some sort of toy, and a little plastic toy soldier!

We also learned of the deaths of whales and other plankton eating creatures due to the ingestion of such large quantities of the aforementioned plastics in the sea.  All that plastic trash in the sea breaks down into the tiniest bits and fragments which then become part of the swirling mass of plankton.  Sea animals which live off the plankton are digesting this plastic in such amounts that they are literally dying of starvation due to lack of nutrition.  Other animals are choking to death on bits of plastic.

Although I try to live as ecologically as possible, I am ashamed.  What a travesty of justice to the sea.  It is truly disgusting.  What an eyeopener.