Why Women
Why Not
The final leg across the South Pacific will be sure to deliver excitement! Starting in Vanuatu, we will work with a local community group to find out more about the plastic pollution issues on the islands. Vanuatu is a mountainous archipelago and will provide a stunning backdrop to our onshore activities.
We will sail West 1300 nautical miles to Cairns, Australia and continue our scientific research whilst at sea, deploying the manta trawl to collect sea surface samples and even managing to process some of these on board. We will be offshore for 10 days and during this time we will skirt the bioregion of the Coral Sea, a marginal sea stretching 2000km down the North East coast of Australia. In addition, we will hopefully be treated to sights of the Minke whale and Humpback whale migration that occurs along this coast at this time of year!
When we reach land we will head into Cairns to share tales from our crossing and raise awareness about the impact that plastic pollution is having on our oceans and on us. This journey is made possible by the generous sponsorship by Rothy’s.
Partners & Sponsors
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Made possible with the support of our generous sponsors:
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Thanks to our Sponsors
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Made possible with the support of our generous sponsors:
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Round The World Route Plan
October 2019 - September 2021
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Leg 2
Azores North Atlantic Gyre Antigua
27th October, 2021 - 18th November, 2021 -
Leg 3
Antigua Green Island Antigua
with
23rd November, 2021 - 26th November, 2021 -
Leg 4
Antigua Bonaire Aruba
with Red Ensign Group,
29th November, 2021 - 8th December, 2021 -
Leg 5
Aruba San Blas Panama
12th December, 2021 - 22nd December, 2021 -
Leg 6
Panama Galapagos
with Travel Edge
28th January, 2021 - 8th February, 2021 -
Leg 7
Galapagos Easter Island
with PerkinElmer
15th February, 2021 - 4th March, 2021 -
Leg 8
Easter Island The Pitcairn Group Tahiti
with
8th March, 2021 - 1st April, 2021 -
Leg 9
Tahiti Cook Islands
with
20th April, 2021 - 27th April, 2021 -
Leg 10
Cook Islands Tonga
with
2nd May, 2021 - 12th May, 2021 -
Leg 12
Fiji Vanuatu
with
30th May, 2021 - 6th June, 2021 -
Leg 13
Vanuatu Cairns
with
11th June, 2021 - 25th June, 2021 -
Leg 14
Cairns Darwin
with
13th July, 2021 - 24th July, 2021 -
Leg 15
Darwin Perth
with TOMRA
1st August, 2021 - 18th August, 2021 -
Leg 16
Perth Indian Ocean Gyre Mauritius
27th August, 2021 - 23rd September, 2021 -
Leg 17
Mauritius Cape Town, South Africa
with Slaughter and May
30th September, 2021 - 24th October, 2021 -
Leg 18
Cape Town South Atlantic Gyre João Pessoa
21st November, 2021 - 22nd December, 2021 -
Leg 19
João Pessoa Fernando de Noronha Barbados
4th January, 2021 - 25th January, 2021 -
Leg 20
Barbados St Lucia
31st January, 2021 - 6th February, 2021 -
Leg 21
St Lucia Bermuda
with Red Ensign Group
4th March, 2021 - 18th March, 2021 -
Leg 25
Rhode Island Labrador
with Travel Edge
13th May, 2021 - 22nd May, 2021 -
Leg 25
Halifax Labrador
13th May, 2021 - 31st May, 2021 -
Leg 26
Labrador Disko Bay
7th June, 2021 - 18th June, 2021 -
Leg 4
Disko Bay Nuuk
23rd June, 2021 - 1st July, 2021 -
Leg 28
Nuuk Iceland
7th July, 2021 - 21st July, 2021 -
Leg 29
Iceland Lofoten
28th July, 2021 - 9th August, 2021 -
Leg 30
Lofoten Oslo
with TOMRA
14th August, 2021 - 24th August, 2021 -
Leg 31
Oslo London
with TOMRA
30th August, 2021 - 7th September, 2021 -
Leg 22
Bermuda North Atlantic Gyre Bermuda
24th March, 2021 - 29th March, 2021 -
Leg 11
Tonga Fiji
with
18th May, 2021 - 25th May, 2021 -
Leg 1
Plymouth Azores
with Rothy's
1st October, 2021 - 1st November, 2021 -
Leg 2313th April, 2021 - 14th April, 2021
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Leg 24
with Travel Edge
20th April, 2021 - 29th April, 2021 -
Leg 123rd January, 2021 - 23rd January, 2021
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Leg 423rd January, 2021 - 23rd January, 2021
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Leg 523rd January, 2021 - 23rd January, 2021
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Leg 223rd January, 2021 - 23rd January, 2021
Snaps from the sea
Crew Pics
Voyage Itinerary
This is the itinerary list for a single voyage (leg)
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9th September 2019Nam quis aliquam purus. Sed arcu ligula, bibendum fringilla metus ut, maximus gravida nunc.Victoria, BC
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31st October 2019Pellentesque justo eros, maximus id tincidunt et, posuere sed enim. Proin scelerisque ac dui et malesuada.Oahu, Hawaii
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16th November 2019Ut mattis massa nulla, tincidunt efficitur nulla fringilla et. Quisque commodo facilisis pulvinar.Croydon, UK
Voyage Blogs
More from our blog
Meet the team
Mission leader
Guest crew
Kirsty Young
Kirsty Young
United Kingdom
Police Constable - Authorised Firearms Officer
Kirsty Young is an Authorised Firearms Officer for the Ministry of Defence Police where she is currently putting her skills to good use within one of the forces specialist units.
Having been raised in Scotland it was only natural that she grew up with a great love of the outdoors and walking up mountains. After leading her friends to the top of the wrong mountain in the Brecon Beacons (then pointing to the mountain they should have climbed) they are hoping that Kirsty won’t have anything to do with the navigation on board S/V TravelEdge.
From a young age Kirsty found herself making waves in the male dominated world of Motorsport, in particular karting. She has had great success gaining two British Women’s Racing Drivers Club – Kart Championship titles as well as winning many races and titles against large grids of men.
Having spent the majority of her life thriving in male dominated environments Kirsty has become a strong advocator of empowering women and now enjoys spending her evenings volunteering at a local Brownie group with the aim of inspiring the next generation of women.
This will be Kirsty’s first time sailing and she hopes the trip will give her a better understanding of what damage has been done by plastic pollution and how she can become part of a solution that reduces it. She hopes her story will not only inspire women but also encourage everyone she knows to be more mindful of the damage they are doing to the environment and to always push themselves out of their comfort zones on adventures of their own.
Ann Jenkins
Ann Jenkins
Canada
Founder and Director, Asociación PLAYA PATROL
“When young children present me with their first bottle of discarded cigarette butts that they’ve collected at a beach clean up or enthusiastically share a story about why plastic is harmful to the sea, their eyes light up and they get very excited to tell me something important. That’s how I know that what we do with PLAYA PATROL is important at a grassroots level because it inspires people of all ages to change their relationship with single-use plastic. I am both excited to join eXXpedition and fearful to witness first-hand the harm that our relationship with plastic has on our fragile planet.
Ann is originally from Canada and now lives in La Herradura, which is located in Costa Tropical, Spain. In October 2018, she hosted her first beach clean up which attracted 350 volunteers. That propelled her to create a non-profit association which focuses on large scale community beach clean ups in order to educate families, schools and business about the harm that single-use plastic has on our sea and our planet. Ann is looking forward to the challenges and rigor of two weeks at sea and is excited to share her on-board experience when she returns to Spain.
Sonja Jakić
Sonja Jakić
Croatia
Student and Skipper
Growing up on the island of Cres in Croatia, surrounded by sea, it became one of the most important things in Sonja’s life. Sonja started sailing when she was 10 years old. She’s been a part of a local group whose idea was to solve the problem of sheeps wool waste around the island. Sonja has been a part of many local eco and heritage preservation actions and many cultural and youth programs in school. With so many interests in her head it was very hard for her to choose a course when the time came for that, but she decided to go into mechanical engineering because the idea was to acquire as much knowledge and understanding about things that surround her and how to solve a problem when one appears.
For the last four years Sonja has been working in seasonal nautical tourism in Croatia as a sailor, hostess and a skipper. Reaching secluded bays and finding a bunch of garbage and plastic on shore started to trouble her. Every time she found herself in such a situation, she would just jump in the sea and go and pick it up. For her it started from the heart and her influence on others is now with her guests and crew. At the moment she is finishing her bachelor degree and working as a skipper in south Croatia.
Aarathi Arumugam
Aarathi Arumugam
Malaysia
Business Woman
An accountant by training, an entrepreneur and community connector by choice, living in an island city, Aarathi believes that life is a journey worth learning. Her work includes curating events and content for families, children and the larger community, in an effort to break boundaries and strengthening bonds.
Aarathi felt compelled to join the crew because given the climate changes we have witnessed in these short 10 years, we no longer have the choice BUT to be interested in how we treat our waste, particularly in the way we dispose of plastics and other seemingly harmless materials that actually create toxic waste in our oceans and lands. As a member of our communities we all have to be bothered about how we can BE that change.
Aarathi is not a personality or anyone famous and you don’t have to be. She believes an opportunity like this offers regular citizens around the world, a chance to contribute toward a legacy that benefits all.
Natalie Fox
Natalie Fox
United Kingdom
Surf and yoga instructor
Natalie is a surf and yoga instructor based in Portugal during summers and Morzine, French Alps in winters. She has travelled and taught her 2 passions around the world as Roxy fitness ambassador; in Morocco, France, Jersey, Sri Lanka, Costa Rica and New Zealand. She is currently in her second year studying a Masters of Sustainability with Anglia Ruskin University and The Eden Project.
She joined Surfers Against Sewage as a rep in 2014 and has taken part in hundreds of beach cleans over the last 10 years, sharing her environmental stories through Surf Girl Magazine.
Natalie is passionate about preserving and protecting ocean ecosystems, joining Sea Shepherd and Surfers for Cetaceans on campaigns in Antarctica, Faroe Islands and California. In 2011 she cofounded Women for Whales to highlight the plight of whale and dolphins, as well as the connection women often have to these sentient beings. She is now an “ocean plastics ambassador” for Whale and Dolphin Conservation’s #notwhalefood campaign and hopes to align her experience on the eXXpedition with her MSc major project, researching the effects of micro plastics on whales.
Learn more about Natalie's journey here:
Kimberly Wooten
Kimberly Wooten
United States of America
Historical Archaeologist
Kimberly has worked as an archaeologist across the geographically and culturally diverse state that is California, for several years in British Columbia, as well as field seasons in Stymfalia and Mytilene in Greece. In the last few years, Kimberly’s archaeological interests have started to merge with her more personal activism focusing on climate change. In part, this is because Kimberly is a mother of two genuinely nice humans, Sunday, a dancer, and Inigo, a high school athlete, and she feels a responsibility towards ensuring her children’s future. Kimberly is married to another archaeologist, Scott Baxter, so dinner conversations often revolve around history, field stories, artifacts, people’s behaviors, and dirt!
Kirana Agustina
Kirana Agustina
Indonesia
Postgraduate Student and Ocean Conservationist
KIRANA has a scientific background in Marine Science which has given her full understanding of Indonesia’s potential for leading the world in environmental issues. Working on marine conservation for nearly seven years and living in Indonesia – the heart of the Coral Triangle, a global epicentre of marine biodiversity, further confirm this. Unfortunately, its maritime potential is grossly neglected, especially with the young generation. And we are currently facing real threats such as marine ‘plastic’ debris that have a severe impact on the marine environment, economic cost and our health.
She just finished her postgraduate program at University College London on Environment, Politics and Society and researched on “Ocean Plastic, Politics of Scale and Indonesia’s National Plan of Action”. She believes through the exploration of environmental problems such as ocean plastic will provide insight related to the scientific, political, economic practices that are shaping the human perspective in their relation to the ocean. Before her postgraduate study, she was doing a United Nations-Nippon Fellowship program in 2018 at Division Ocean Affairs and Law of the Sea (DOALOS) in New York City. Also, she worked at a different multilateral organisation, national government, and local conservation NGO focused on environment and ocean conservation.
Kirana is the recipient of a developing nations bursary, supported by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO). Having an opportunity to do ocean sailing on the plastic issue with eXXpedition is going to be like a dream come true for her. She hopes to help Indonesia’s Government in the future becomes an ocean advocate in the fight against ocean plastic issues. She is also very excited to learn from other eXXpedition crew how to shift the public’s perspectives on the importance of ocean issues.
Marcia Reinauer
Marcia Reinauer
United States of America
Documentary filmmaker and photographer
Marcia Reinauer is a documentary filmmaker and photographer. She grew up boating and spending a significant amount of time on and around the water. In recent years, many of Marcia’s documentary films have centered around raising awareness about athletes working to make our planet healthier through sustainable practices. In her free-time, Marcia races sailboats and crews on off-shore deliveries, which has given her a passion for showing others the importance of protecting our world’s oceans.
Learn more about Marcia's journey here:
Breezy Grenier
Breezy Grenier
United States of America
Ocean M.E.S.E
Breezy is an ocean scientist by education, and mariner, educator, and entrepreneur by trade. After serving four years in the United States Coast Guard, she attended the University of Rhode Island, studying geology and geological oceanography, marine biology, and underwater archaeology.
A licensed boat captain, Breezy serves as the captain of several vessels from research, fishing, diving and service support, to eco-tourism. She is the Technical Director of an amateur sailing team, and instructs snowboarding, scuba diving, and boating. Breezy is not only a member of the Explorers Club and a Fellow at the Royal Geographical Society, she is also a member of the Sedna Epic Expedition, an all female team of sea women, planning on completing a historic snorkel relay of the Northwest passage.
Breezy uses her unique combinations of knowledge and experience to relay knowledge of what she sees at sea, whether it be disappearing sea ice and stress to the wildlife, to plastic pollution found everywhere. To help relay her message and inspire the next generation, she is the founder of Scientists are Superheroes too, which is to help change the scientist stereotype, and focuses on getting children to go outside, explore, and play sports, engaging and empowering youth to climate actions, and promote healthy and environmentally sustainable lifestyles. She also is the founder of Eco-Elders, which promotes connecting generations, creating a knowledge exchange focusing on [home] maker skills, aimed at reducing and reusing habits to combat our ocean plastics problem.
Learn more about Breezy's journey here:
Katrin Scholz-Barth
Katrin Scholz-Barth
Germany
Mom, Wife, Business Woman - trained as a Bricklayer and Civil/Env Engineer
Katrin is a bricklayer and competitive swimmer from former East Germany. Because in East Germany there was limited resources, they always had to improvise, invent ways to make things work. This mindset shapes me to the day and forces me to be determined, practical, and hands-on. My fierce sense of fairness helps build community.
It was much later in my professional life that a professor told me that entrepreneurs are very unhappy because they always see things that can be improved. That’s when I realized, “Oh, is that what it is? I must be a very good entrepreneur!”
My heart beats at the intersection of sustainability, business, innovation & social entrepreneurship. I view the world around me through the lens of strategic sustainability to find ways to decarbonize.
I really love my work in the business world, helping companies and corporations become more profitable, resilient and competitive by connecting their core business values with environmental sustainability, especially along the water-energy-food nexus.
As an environmental sustainability business women I enjoy most when I lead and initiate change, inspire and empower people, and engage in sustainability design thinking and development of inclusive and equitable communities, which I do in my personal and professional life, from Harvard University to the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar, as well as in my volunteering activities as President of SustainableQATAR.
To bring back pictures, stories and research results from our eXXpedition round-the-world sailing voyage to this diverse array of organizations and communities is a big motivator, challenge and responsibility I am grateful and willing to accept.
Learn more about Katrin's journey here:
