June 5, 2013
TOPtoTOP impact in Hawaii
Watch the 5 short films from Jacqui about TOPtoTOP in Hawaii! Many thanks Arnotts lodge were Jacqui find the perfect environment to edit this great movies. - Today Jacqui is leaving for Singapore. In the last few years she became part of the family and we can not wait to have her back again on Pachamama. Like always it was awsome, Jacqui!
TOPtoTOP visits "Goddess Pele" from TOPtoTOP on Vimeo.
TOPtoTOP Expedition Explores Imiloa Astronomy Centre from TOPtoTOP on Vimeo.
TOPtoTOP Solution >> Collecting Good Examples of Climate Protection from TOPtoTOP on Vimeo.
TOPtoTOP Interviews Andrè Bachman on Climate from TOPtoTOP on Vimeo.
TOPtoTOP Impact in Hawaii from TOPtoTOP on Vimeo.
We just arrived after 36 h on sea in Honolulu! Please join us on our big event at the 6th of June 2013 at 4 p.m. at the Halekulani on the beach of Waikiki. Download the Invitation to TOPtoTOP Presentation.pdf and the Press Release Halekulani - TOPtoTOP.docx and the TOPtoTOP Press Release USA-Honolulu.pdf!
We just got a interview of Sabine in Santa Marta in Columbia on the 24th of April! Watch Sabine in action!..and here an input from Mohit!
June 7, 2013
Warm welcome in Honolulu
The passage from Hilo to Honolulu was rough. It made all the adults seasick, while all the kids were as fit as ever. The picked up to over 40 kts while crossing the channels between the islands which allowed us to sail at a pleasant speed with merely half of the fock out.
Exhausted but feeling better we arrived in Ala Wai Harbor where we had the pleasure of welcoming Theres Desai, the Swiss Honorary Consul, on Pachamama. She has been a great help since we arrived! Through her we got to meet Ueli Krauer, the General Manager of the five star Hotel Halekulani, here in Honolulu. He is generously letting us stay in the Hotel for a week!
Tuesday we also had the chance to meet Nikolai Maximenko and Jan Hafner from the International Pacific Research Center to show them the data we collected sailing from Panama and further options of collecting data on the way to Alaska.
Yesterday, ToptoTop held a press conference followed by a presentation in the Hotel Halekulani. The audience had the chance to hear about the expedition from Dario and Christina. Halekulani will be the basecamp for the loop in the North Pacific and the location where the first water sample for the data ToptoTop is collecting for the IPRC, will be taken.
Then Salina and Andri had their first public recorder performance, they did a great job!
Meret is leaving us today after nearly half a year on Pachamama. She became a very good friend to us and specially to our children. We hope she has a good start with her environmental studies in Britain and we are all looking forward to see her back soon. Again BRAVO and MANY THANKS!
Meret, she is leaving today after 5 months with toptotop. Everyone have become fond of her and so the goodbye was hard.
I (Nicole) arrived yesterday evening from switzerland. But there is no time to relaxe, the next morning we hiked the Kuliouou Ridge Trail in eastern Oahudo. At the end of Kuliouou valley we started our morning footing.
After one hour through the forest, climbing steps and 10 liters sweated, we got rewarded by a beautiful view over waikiki, diamond head and the kahala beach.
Dario, Andri, Erwin and I climbed a bit higher up the ridge but the fog had blocked a greater view.
The children did a race downwards because there was not a lot of plastic to collect.
Invitation for the next weekend's hike and clean-up
We plan to hike the Kuliouou Ridge Trail in eastern Oahu this Sunday 9th of June 2013 and do a TOPtoTOP Clean-Up on the way back. The trail head is a good 20 minute drive from Waikiki, at the end of Kuliouou valley. We will leave from the Halekulani Hotel at 7:30 am, and start hiking at 8:00 am. If you would like to join us, please meet us at one of the following two places:
- between 7:15 and 7:30am at the Halekulani Hotel, front entrance; we will drive off at 7:30, and you can follow us in your car; if you have space in your car to take extra passengers, please let us know!
- at 7:50 am at the trail head in Kuliouou valley. Please see the link above for driving directions. Note that there is no official parking lot. You will need to park along the street at the end of the residential area where the trail head is located. At this early time in the morning, this will hopefully not be too difficult.
The hike is about 2 miles each way, with quite a bit of elevation involved (but rewarded with stunning views from the top-- if the weather is clear). It is mostly shady, but be sure to bring sunscreen, plenty of water, a substantial snack, and solid closed shoes. You may also want to consider bringing insect repellant.
For more information please contact Theres on 650-283-5627
June 15, 2013
June 20, 2013
Honolulu
by Nicole
Shaka!
(This is the Hawaiian way to say hello under friends)
Last Tuesday, we had to exchange our bed in the Halekulani hotel with the bed on Pachamama. A big thanks goes to Ueli Krauer, the Swiss manager of the hotel.
The breakfast buffet was a land of milk and honey for the kids and adults. Alegra and Noe spend the most time in the swimming pool while Andri and Salina had school with Christina. Noe knows now how to swim over water and Andri learned to ride bike without training wheels. Every free second he wants to ride bike.
We had to say goodbye to Meret, who has joined toptotop for more than 5 month! (A Quarter of Alegras life! Alegra is still looking if Meret comes back)! It was sad to say goodbye, but we keep all the very nice memories in our heart. Thank you for everything!
The public clean up on the Waikiki beach was a success. But we found a lot of little plastic pieces which isn't so good if you know that they clean every day the beach.
Last Thursday, we had a presentation in the Rotary club organized by Victoria.Thank you very much for the donation.
The boat is almost ready for depart to Alaska after some days hard work. Friday we sailed the boat over to the Keehi shipyard. They lifted the boot out and did a very good job. A special thanks to them. The rudder blade wasn't fixe very good and so we were afraid that it doesn't hold up to Alaska. A reparation rule is: once you take out the boat there is more to do then provided. So we cleaned and painted the underwater. Each time at the end of the day, appeared a little problem. We discovered a hole in the rudder, and other things. But now everything is fixed and the boat is in the water again and everybody is happy with the new
blue color.
While we are working on the boat, we couldn't sleep on the boot and so we had a very nice sleep over by Reta Maag. Thanks a lot to her for the nice stay with this amazing view over Honolulu and the Diamond Head. She is the oldest person, who was on Pachamama. With 84 years, she managed it to climb on the boat. I hope that we are also in the best of health in this age.
Yesterday, Sabine and Theres Ryf Desai (Honorary Consul of Switzerland) did the purchasing for the next 3 months. Know the boot is full of fruits
(140 apples, 169 potatoes, 44 oranges, and 14 kg carrots), 30 kg pasta, 12 kg milkpowder, 15 kg cheese and some other food. Normally we should have 2 weeks for sailing to Dutch harbor in Alaska. But with the wind and storm maybe we arrive elsewhere. So we don't know if there are any good shops.
Jan from the pacific research center went over for install the equipment for collecting water samples, which we have to do on the way northward. His team wants to analyze the radio activity in the north pacific after the tsunami in Japan and the explosion in the atomic power plant Fukushima.
A short description about the radioactive cesium analysis:
partnership toptotop-IPRC.docx
Today we will have a potluck party with our friends at the lacuna for visiting the boat or for have a drink and for a swim. I have never seen so many rainbows. The weather is changing very fast from sun to rain and inverse.it is normal that we can observe 2-3 rainbows a day.
A big thanks goes to Timm, who helped Sabine with her new Laptop (mac) and explained us 2 girls the starry sky.
Did you know that Hawaii islands are the most isolated islands on earth? With 2500 miles to the continent the Hawaii islands are the islands the farthest from the continent.
See more pictures from Honolulu here!
Media coverage in Hawaii:
-Star Advertiser
-Harald Tribune 1
- Harald Tribune 2
Good news from TOPtoTOP Mauritius: They did a tree planting activity with many members for grand Bay primary school on friday 21st June.they got trees from ministry of agriculture.
June 21, 2013
partnership IPRC-TOPtoTOP
Toptotop helps international pacific research center in Hawaii to do an analysis of cesium radioisotopes, oil film, marine debris, drifters, and radionuclides in seawater in the north pacific. While we are sailing to Alaska and then again southbound to Hawaii, we will collect surface water samples. While IPRC found Fukushima related radionuclides, the levels were rather low (< 12 Bq/m3 of each isotope).
However, IPRC know based on results from other researchers that in some places radioactivity was much higher, about 1,000 times the normal. So there are some presumptions that the current push it northward. According to some models, if somewhere in the north pacific is a higher level of radioactivity, it should be between 35' and 45' degree nord. But it's hard to track the debris field in the ocean.
There is no danger for us or for the population. Jan Hafner (researcher from the IPRC) told me that if there is some radioactivity, it will have a lower level that the radioactivity in our body.
Jan Kamenik came to install the pomp and the filter for collecting the seawater samples. First, samples are filtered to remove undissolved particles. Clear water is then passed through a can. Then we will fix the can on the outside of the boat. The water will flow out through a catalyzer which will collect or measure the level of radioactivity.
For more information over the partnership and the research program from IPRC, have a look to the followings links:
partnership toptotop-IPRC.docx
A short description about the radioactive cesium analysis
June 26, 2013
Track us: Hawaii to Alaska
Track us from Hawaii to Alaska
Goodbye from Hanalei - Kauai
The kids got gifts before leaving Honolulu, nice t-shirts from Therese for Alaska. They would like to say " danke viel mol"! Thanks to everybody who joined or supported us, for the nice time which we could spend in Honolulu.
After a rough but short transit from Honolulu (O'ahu) to Hanalei (north side of Kauai), we found a nice anchor place in the bay in front of the small but nice village. The island looks greener and wetter than O'ahu.
Christina bought 2 ukuleles. I hope that we have some nice music evenings out at sea. Dario and the kids did a kayak tour on the river to explore the village.
Tuesday, we did a hike to the Hanakapi'ai falls. It was a really nice walk 4 miles bidirectional along the high sea cliffs, and winds up and down across lush valleys.
It's the beginning of the famous Kalalan trail.
This trail takes several days and is for good hikers but the start is very popular. Tuesday it was raining and so there were not so much people. Beside the way we saw orchids, wildflowers, gave and mango trees, bamboo and eucalyptus. After 2 miles the way goes up the valley along the Kanakapi'ai stream in which a lots of small waterfalls flow.
Everywhere on the way were black nuts - kukui (candlenuts) which the local use for the famous necklace from Hawaii.
The falls were spectacular with a wide pool gentle enough for swimming. But it was too cold for swimming because we were so wet.
The kids walked all along alone, 7 hours walk! They did a very good job! In return, we got invited for pizza from Lana. Thanks to her for the lift from the Ke'e beach and the pizza.
Yesterday, Nic from Australia arrived on Pachamama. He will sail with us to Alaska for filming. Welcome on board.
Today, before we leave Kauai for Alaska, we will have a clean-up on the beach from Hanalei. Everybody is welcome to join us.