while driving to work today, i heard on the radio (NPR's Morning Edition) about an expedition to the gulf between mainland Mexico and Baja California, known as the Sea of Cortes - a rich . The expedition, by a group of scientists, aims to recreate the original voyage in 1940 by the famous author John Steinbeck(Grapes of Wrath) and his marine biologist friend Ed Ricketts. After they finished their voyage, they co-authored the book The Sea of Cortez, a detailed study of hundreds of marine species from the tidelands and a study of the ecosystem interlaced with a series of "philosophical digressions". The present expedition is aiming to recreate the old voyage based on the wriitings and logs of that expedition, and to see how much the marine ecology and species populations have changed over the past 65 years. The effort to recreate the magic of the old expedition includes the use of the Gus-D, an old wodden shrimp trawler, and by no means even close to a luxury cruise. This voyage is all business, and Radio Expeditions is doing a great job relaying the expedition to listeners like me who are fascinated by such a journey. The documentary is available here (NPR).
The official log of the Gus-D expedition including its findings, journey schedule, crew intro is available from the expedition website.
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2 comments:
wonderful information. i had not heard of this expedition and appreciate the links. as you saw on my blog i have been to the sea of cortez and i was in the company of several marine biologists. they, too, will appreciate this NPR story. i live near Salinas, home of Steinbeck, and love all of his works. thanks, aditya
you are very welcome patina ... glad to be of help
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