Sunrise over North Sea coming into Firth of Forth this Morning 

Sieving Samples from Manta Trawl in Firth of Forth

Examining Manta Trawl Haul from Firth of Forth

Micro Plastics From Manta Trawl Haul in Firth of Forth
Several Nurdles and other Tiny Fragments of Plastic

We're Moored in front of The Britannia in Leith Docks Edinburgh

Hi Everyone
We've arrived in Edinburgh after a two day sail from Inverness. It was a bit blowy until last night, many of us resorted to taking the pills, including me - I couldn't face a third bout of seasickness.  Only problem is they make me very sleepy so I've arrived in Edinburgh - having been up since 4am as I was on the dawn watch - very tired.  We have an evening of meetings, so I'll finish this and get back for a nap.  I'm using the Holiday Inn WiFi having had a lovely shower in the Sky film crews room.

We had a very successful trawl this morning - found more visible plastic than in every other trawl we've done - of course that's not a good thing, however, it was ironically exciting too.  Interesting that we found several nurdles - the white plastic 'beads' that are used to manufacture most plastic products.  Were these washed down a river or lost at sea from a container?  To find 3 in a 30 minute trawl of a tiny section of the Firth of Forth suggests there are a lot more around.  We also found several tiny coloured fragments of degraded plastic - larger items that have broken down.  These were approximately 2mm by 1/2 mm, really tiny and definitely the sort of thing that would be consumed by sea creatures along with plankton etc.

Our daily routine when sailing - we have 3 watches, led by our 3 professional crew, with 3-4 exxpedition crew in each.  Watch shifts are very traditional as used by the navy etc, 00.00-04.00hours, 04.00-08.00, 08.00-12.00, 12.00-16.00, 16.00-18.00, 18.00-20.00, 20.00-24.00.  Breakfast is between 7.30 and 8.30, lunch from 12.00 till 13.00 and dinner from 17.30 to 18.30, with loads of drinks and snacks in between.

I'll do my best to get back on line before we leave Edinburgh and let you know what we've been up to.  Beach clean tomorrow morning, followed by a reception at Holyrood, and then off to ASCUS an Art/Science centre.