A moment of great anticipation and importance for the Barba crew.

After departing Stavanger nearly four months ago to begin the Arctic Sense expedition, Barba has finally arrived to London.

Before the expedition began, Andreas envisioned meeting a political leader in London to share highlights of the journey and specifically gift an Ocean Bottle filled with Arctic seawater as a thank you for the incredible cleanup of the Thames (now the cleanest river of a major city in the world). This would come full circle by using an Ocean Bottle, reusable water bottles made of recycled plastic. By purchasing a single bottle, you fund the collection of 1000 ocean-bound plastic bottles in weight in costal locations around the world. Whilst in Svalbard, the team made the first step in making this idea possible by filling four bottles with water when they first hit the pack ice,  North of 80 degrees.

This idea became a reality this past week when Deputy Mayor for Environment and Energy, Shirley Rodrigues, visited Barba in London. The team was able to share stories and successes of the expedition and gift the Deputy Mayor a bottle of Arctic water. We are very grateful that she took the time to visit Barba and we very much look forward to future conversations!

The day was made even better by sharing it with Larissa Clark and members of both the Ocean Bottle and Whale Wise teams, seeing one another for the first time in person since the Arctic Sense expedition began.

Featured photo by Sophie Bolesworth