In the South Pacific, on tropical atoll called Fakarava, in the Dangerous Archipelago (the Tuamotus), there is this bar…

A hanging bar, built by the crew of a few cruising boats, from the wreckage washed ashore during 5m swell, completely from found and salvaged materials - the bar is named Sud Bar and depending on your language of choice might evoke thoughts of bubbles (English) or the compass direction 180 true (French).

Come on in, have some fun, carve your name in the hanging bar. The house specialty is fresh green coconut water with rum. The bartender (perhaps you?) opens the nut, the recipient drinks a few ounces, and the bartender tops up the nut with rum.

If you visit, take some time and some tools and leave the bar more over-the-top than you found it. Repair the damage, use only natural or found materials, and invite the entire anchorage for a Sud Bar Style evening.

Location: One of the motus in the West anchorage of the South Pass of Fakarava Atoll.

Many of my non-boating friends are outdoors enthusiasts of some sort and most outdoors enthusiasts (I hope) make it a practice to pack out all of their own trash and a piece or two of someone else's. When hiking I would always grab other trash and pack it out (within reason), in part because I wanted to keep the forest clean, but also in part because I realize that it is surprisingly easy to litter on accident – things fall out of your pocket, or blow away, etc.

Similarly I think there are two kinds of boaters: the kind that has littered on accident by losing a few things overboard…and those who lie ;)

On a boat, on an extended cruise, I’ve had more difficulty adopting my practice of packing out some communal trash. Reason #1: There is soooo much plastic trash lying around that I feel overwhelmed. Reason #2: Because we tend to stay remote as long as possible, we have to carry our trash around for a long period of time and stowing it becomes an issue.

I recently read in a BC magazine that they estimate that half of the plastic trash on BC’s beaches is industrial but half is from, yes, you guessed it, “recreational marine users”. Ahem. That’s *us* kids.

What I have decided to do is to commit to something simple, that we can manage aboard, but that hopefully covers at least our own accidental littering (if and when it happens despite our best efforts), if not covering some of the accumulation as well.

The Plastic Challenge: In every anchorage, if we go ashore, I pick up a single plastic item and carry it back to the boat to join our trash.

Simple, huh? Not that difficult to adopt, huh? So…I double dog dare you.

The picture above is my “Copeland Island Trash”.