Passion is our Pursuit
Our mission is to provide the finest ocean-based expeditions on the planet through a passion for discovery, challenge, and personal learning. Every operational decision will put the earth, its ecosystem and its inhabitants before our own.Oceana, Sea Shepherd and The Best Odyssey
Just a few concerning facts:
We recognize fully that constructing and operating a large vessel has seriously negative side effects to the natural environment. To help mitigate these consequences of our activity, we have imposed an annual tax of one percent of our gross receipts each year. All proceeds of this tax are granted to local community and environmental activism, including Oceana, and Sea Shepherd, grass-roots organisations making a real difference.
- Over the past 20 years, living coral around the world has been destroyed five times more quickly than tropical rainforests. The pace of destruction has doubled in the past decade and some corals in the waters of the Galapagos are near extinction. More than a quarter of the world's reefs have already been killed off and another 50% are in severe trouble. The Caribbean has lost 80% of its reefs in the last 3 decades.
Sea turtles have been swimming the world's oceans since before the dinosaurs roamed the earth, more than 110 million years ago. However, these treasures of ancient times are now on the brink of extinction. All six sea turtle species found in U.S. and International waters are listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act.
Sharks play a vital role in maintaining the health of marine ecosystems and their stocks are in serious trouble. Yet, around one hundred million sharks are killed by commercial fisheries every year. They are intentionally harvested so their fins can be used in shark fin soup and they are incidentally caught as bycatch in fisheries targeting other species.- Global warming is real, and the consequences are scary. Global sea levels could rise by more than 20 feet with the loss of shelf ice in Greenland and Antarctica, devastating coastal areas worldwide. The Arctic Ocean could be ice free in summer by 2050. Island nations we have sailed to like Tuvalu, the San Blas and the Maldives are disappearing!
Please Join us to Make a Difference
You can sponsor one of our passages of The Best Odyssey. Not only is it fun, but by contributing a small amount of money for each mile we sail to Oceana, you can make a huge difference in helping to save our natural environment. Do it for yourself, do it for your kids, do it for the world. DO IT NOW!GET ACTIVE: don't feel like donating but want to help? Take one minute of your time to GET INVOLVED!
What We're Doing
Here's some of the concrete steps we are taking now to address the environment:- 1% of our annual sales are donated to pro-active non-profit organizations dedicated to protecting the world's oceans. Thus far, we have given to Oceana.org, Sea Shepherd, the Nature Conservancy, the League of Conservation Voters, True Majority, and the SIMA Humanitarian Fund.
- Our website runs on 100% solar power, greatly reducing carbon emissions through AISO.net
- We endeavor to utilize whole foods and local farmers and to reduce waste and packaging. We endeavor to minimize the purchase of plastic whenever possible and actively choose recyclable materials.
- We never harvest edible animals or plants from the ocean that Oceana.org and marine biologists have deemed threatened or endangered.
- We have designed a large solar panel array to reduce our generator diesel emissions by 75%.
- All our printed materials are printed on post-consumer recycled paper, our merchandise (t-shirts, etc.) are all made from 100% organic cotton and earth-friendly dyes.
- We encourage our owners to offset their carbon footprint of travel to and from the boat by donating to Climate Care.org, which invests in renewable energy.
But we know we can do a lot more. If you have ideas on how we can further reduce our footprint, please don't hesitate to give us feedback.
