Flotsam and Jetsam

FLOTSAM and JETSAM

First the Flotsam

     It is no consolation at all that those now cruising during the March Break may be ploughing through seas filled with garbage. If some chose to go to a beach instead, they may still be walking and wading through debris. I think that what I have suggested is true because I have remained in the snowy north reading rather than travelling. Here are some recent examples of trashiness that I will present with sadness rather than schadenfreude.

     One can escape the crowds and flocks of tourists by going to exotic and less popular places, but the garbage may still be there.

Roatan

     Roatan is an island in the far Western Caribbean and one might assume it is far enough away from the more popular ports to be safe from debris. Such is not the case.
“What was once an idyllic coastline along the shores of Roatan now is choked with tides of plastic waste. The Locals noticed that suddenly their coastline was inundated with plastic trash, from bags and bottles to plastic cutlery and packaging material.
It is thought that the plastic originated from the mouth of Guatemala's Montagua River, which recently carried a wave of trash from Guatemala out to sea.”
“Idyllic Caribbean Island Covered In A Tide Of Plastic Trash Along Coastline,” Trevor Nace, Forbes, Oct. 27, 2017.

Bali 

     That word makes you think of the South Pacific and you are likely hearing the song Bali Hai rustling through the palms. Keep those old images in mind because the current ones are not so good.
“A British diver has captured shocking images of himself swimming through a sea of plastic rubbish off the coast of the Indonesian tourist resort of Bali.
Rubbish has been inundating Bali for several months now, washing over mainly from the neighbouring island of Java during the annual rainy, or “trash” season.
Several weeks ago thousands across Bali took part in a mass clean up, in attempt to rid the island’s beaches, rivers and jungles of waste, and raise awareness about the harmful impacts of trash.”
‘Plastic, Plastic, Plastic: British Diver Films Sea of Rubbish off Bali,” Kate Lamb, The Guardian, March 6. 2018.

Henderson Island

     Even if you travel to one of the remotest islands in the world where there are no people you will find garbage. I will spare you the picture.
“Henderson Island lies in the South Pacific, halfway between New Zealand and Chile. No one lives there. It is about as far away from anywhere and anyone on Earth.”
“How an Uninhabited Island Got the World’s Highest Density of Trash
Isolation protects the island from human intrusion—but not 18 tons of plastic.” Laura Parker, May 17, 2017, National Geographic.

Beirut

     If you are one of those who used the break to go to Europe or some country in the Middle East, you probably assumed  that dunking  in the Mediterranean would be a bit dodgy and probably were not going to attempt to swim the the Hellespont. Even a stroll along the strand can be problematic these days. I also assume that most of the cedars are gone.
“A winter storm in Lebanon has resurfaced a longstanding national problem, in the form of a swirling sea of garbage. Piles of trash began washing up Monday on the beaches of Zouk Mosbeh, a town 10 miles north of Beirut, leaving the shore littered with refuse. An earlier storm surge had dragged trash from a landfill out to sea, later depositing it along the coastline and up to 100 feet inland.
“A Sea of Trash on Lebanon’s Beaches,” Nada Homsijan, New York Times, Jan. 23, 2018.

Now the Jetsam

     Apart from all the detritus spilling into the rivers and oceans and accidentally falling from huge container ships one has to consider all the debris deliberately set adrift. You probably read the recent story that went viral and spread quickly, much like the subject it considered - a bottle that was one of several hundred placed in the water over a hundred years ago.
“World's Oldest Message in a Bottle Found by Beachwalker in Australia: Gin Bottle Was Thrown Overboard from a German Ship Before Ending up on a Beach in Western Australia 132 Years Later,” Naaman Zhou, The Guardian, March 6, 2018
“Inside, she found a roll of paper printed in German and dated to 12 June 1886, which was authenticated by the Western Australian Museum.The bottle had been thrown overboard from the German sailing ship Paula in 1886 as it crossed the Indian Ocean, 950km from the Australian coast, according to Ross Anderson, the museum’s assistant curator of maritime archaeology.
     At the time, German ships were conducting a 69-year experiment that involved throwing thousands of bottles into the sea to track ocean currents.
His finding was confirmed by experts at the German Naval Observatory. The previous record for oldest message in a bottle was 108 years.
Of the thousands jettisoned, 662 other messages from the same German experiment have been found and returned before the latest discovery. The most recent was found in 1934.”

Have a Guinness on Me

     Even on the eve of Saint Patrick’s Day I will continue to offer the bonus stuff you expect. While you may have read the recent “Message in the Bottle” story, you may not be aware that around 200,000 bottles of good old Guinness were placed in the water back in the 1950s and they continue to roll in with the tides. I have to begin my celebrations early so I will leave you with the story rather than attempt to tell it. See:
The Guinness Bottle Drop. If you were walking on the beach in Nova Scotia you may have found one - Bottle from 1959 Guinness Promotion Washes Ashore in N.S.