Spartan is setting sail!
30.12.2022
At the end of November 2022, we launched an Eye of the Ocean campaign aimed at purchasing a monitoring ship in Costa Rica and we succeeded!
Our project vessel is called The Spartan.
This ship becomes an important part of the Blue Life project. It is an important tool for education, monitoring of marine mammals, fish, marine reptiles and birds, as well as protection of the underwater world.
More about the Eye of the Ocean project here.
On December 2, 2022, we headed to Puntarenas marina for a trial cruise after which we decided that this was the desired ship for the Eye of the Ocean monitoring program.
During December we called out a massive appeal to join the Eye of the Ocean direct membership, which was confirmed by paying a membership fee of CZK 25,000. By December 30, 2022, 30 members (or member pairs) gave birth to a unique mission in Costa Rica. The boat was purchased just before Christmas.
Companies such as Forky’s franchise restaurant, Studio VOKO, which is our big and long-term help in IT, VeggieDick restaurant from Mikulov owned and run by members of our organization Veronika and Karel, FLOMAT, Šustr XYZ, INTOIT, as well as the partner organization Prales deťom SK have also joined the Eye of the Ocean membership.
We are currently dealing with the boat service, legal actions like the ship’s owner transcription, and considering taking it into dry dock for inspection of the hull below the waterline. During the first half of January, the crossing and the first monitoring voyage should take place from Puntarenas to Santa Elena Bay, where we are now building anchor buoys in the port of Cuajinicquil.
Marine biologist Frank Garita, who will train us for direct field monitoring of marine mammals, will also take part in the planned three-day crossing cruise. We have approximately 300 km of sailing along the Pacific coast ahead of us, from which the first Eye of the Ocean film will be made.
On February 19, 2023, there will be a big inauguration of the Blue Life Ocean Centre and we will present the monitoring ship The Spartan to the public.
