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42 votes
Accepted

How efficient is travel by canoe?

The canoe has three huge advantages: it works in the absence of paths or trails it can carry enormous loads adding paddlers to it makes it go faster The first is probably the most important. I've ...
Kate Gregory's user avatar
  • 12.1k
28 votes

How is hygiene possible with ocean water only?

Early this year I crewed on a yacht that was crossing the Atlantic and all of the crew were doing this for the first time. For our leg from Lanzarote to St Lucia we had 1,000 liters of fresh water in ...
James's user avatar
  • 311
25 votes

What are those white spots on the sea

They are wave crests. It's wind folding over the top of waves, which mixes them with air. They're also called white caps. If they're closer to the shore you have a change of water color to a lighter ...
J Bergen's user avatar
  • 2,028
25 votes
Accepted

Is it possible to 'live off the sea'?

Theoretically, it might be possible to survive on fish, rainwater and desalinated seawater. In one 1930 experiment, two men survived for a year eating exclusively meat without experiencing any health ...
Jan's user avatar
  • 1,329
24 votes

How would a sea turtle end up on its back?

There are a few possibilities: Other Turtles This site about pet turtles mentions the possibility that turtles fighting over a mate (or actually mating) may end up on their backs. When breeding ...
jhch's user avatar
  • 1,119
23 votes
Accepted

Can I get fresh water from ocean fish flesh?

Let's say you lose 2 liters of water per day. To replace 2 liters of water by eating fish, you need to eat, for example, 2,500 g of cooked Pacific cod, which, besides water, also contains 500 g of ...
Jan's user avatar
  • 1,329
20 votes
Accepted

What's the difference between a fjord and a fjard?

I think Wikipedia article on Fjard has a very good explanation: Although fjards and fjords are similar in that they are a glacially-formed topography, they still differ in some key ways. Fjords are ...
George Sapkin's user avatar
19 votes
Accepted

What safety equipment should I carry for sea-touring by kayak?

Here's what I normally take with me on these trips at the moment. I can divide them into what's needed before, during and after an incident. Avoiding trouble clothing and food (including drink): as ...
Toby Speight's user avatar
  • 4,652
17 votes

How to get out through surf in fins?

Walk backwards. The fins will have the least trouble with the water if you walk backwards.
James Jenkins's user avatar
16 votes

Swimming while in the high seas

Yes. My wife is a geologist and has been on a couple of research cruises in the south Pacific and Indian oceans. It used to be quite common to have a "swim call" when the seas were calm. The vessel ...
Charles E. Grant's user avatar
16 votes

What are these round, spiny, puffy, green things from the ocean in Northeast United States?

They are Sea Urchins and they taste like mussels. People mostly eat them raw. They're actually pretty tasty. Oh yeah, you'll peel off the shell and go for the slimy flesh, a delicacy with fresh ...
Jeredepp's user avatar
  • 3,361
16 votes

What’s the best thing to wear on your hands when sea kayaking in very cold weather?

The best answer I’ve come up with so far is to combine neoprene paddling gloves such as those sold by NRS with an additional pair of waterproof or semi-waterproof mitten shells designed to be worn ...
mmcc's user avatar
  • 3,466
15 votes

Is it possible to 'live off the sea'?

... can someone gather/hunt/farm all of the nutrients required to be healthy whilst never having to land again? Nutrients yes, healthy not likely. A 1000 days is a grueling journey. Reid Stowe, whom ...
Rob's user avatar
  • 366
14 votes

What’s the best thing to wear on your hands when sea kayaking in very cold weather?

I haven't been paddling much for several years, but I used to go all winter with simple fleece gloves inside waterproof dishwashing rubber gloves. I tried a half dozen other alternatives, including ...
mpez0's user avatar
  • 141
14 votes
Accepted

Did any lighthouses provide directional navigation signals?

Well, firstly, there's generally no need, given that any reasonable navigator carries a compass, thereby allowing the direction to be determined. With two or more known lights in sight, a simple ...
Toby Speight's user avatar
  • 4,652
12 votes
Accepted

What Navigation Aids can I make on an island with only a knife?

First things first you aren't going to be able to get longitude without an accurate clock and/or a tome of sight reduction tables. Without those aids which you'd be hard pressed to create while ...
Erik's user avatar
  • 9,638
12 votes
Accepted

Are the birds that snatch bread out of the air "more citified" (tamer) than those who let it drop?

No, gulls (of some species at least) steal food from other birds by moving them until they drop it. They must then be adept at snatching the falling food in mid air. There's material of interest in ...
Chris H's user avatar
  • 26.4k
12 votes

How efficient is travel by canoe?

The most efficient boat design is fairly straightforward. Rowing is more efficient than paddling, because anchoring the oar to the hull allows oars to be longer than paddles and longer levers are more ...
Matthew Gauthier's user avatar
11 votes
Accepted

Did I save, or prolong the death throes, of the tuna crabs?

What you're seeing is a huge washing up of tuna crabs, Pleuroncodes planipes, which has created "red beach" all up and down the California shoreline, as well as other states. It's not an uncommon ...
Sue Saddest Farewell TGO GL's user avatar
11 votes
Accepted

Technique for swimming with fins?

I am a 25+ year scuba divemaster. Alas, poor fin kicking technique is very common, even among experienced scuba divers. First of all, selection of a fin which is too flexible is better than one ...
wallyk's user avatar
  • 1,319
10 votes

How to make my kayak Eskimo roll reliable in rough water?

Summary: Develop muscle memory for the basic move through instruction and repetition, develop robustness against external water conditions, and address the internal panic response. Develop muscle ...
mmcc's user avatar
  • 3,466
10 votes

How would a sea turtle end up on its back?

In addition to the reasons given in @John Hughes answer, Predators may be another cause. This SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment page on the longevity and causes of death of sea turtles lists tiger ...
TripeHound's user avatar
9 votes

What's that stinging feeling when I swim in the sea?

I think a reasonable guess would be jellyfish larvae, also known as "sea lice." Sea lice are actually the microscopic larvae of jellyfish and other ocean stingers which contain the same ...
Buck Nelson's user avatar
9 votes
Accepted

Do jellyfish actively avoid swimmers in Mediterranean?

Jellyfish, while mobile, are not capable of much evasion. They can steer their bodies, but they are limited in their ability to get out of the way of a faster organism - which is why the majority rely ...
Rory Alsop's user avatar
  • 24.9k
9 votes
Accepted

What's the difference between the Norwegian fjord and the Scottish sea loch?

In short, just the name. Fjord is of Norse origin, loch of Gaelic. They are the same feature, formed when glaciers debouch into the sea. In both countries, you'll find varying scales, from a few ...
Toby Speight's user avatar
  • 4,652
8 votes

What's the difference between a fjord and a fjard?

Description of "Fjord" A fjord, also spelled fiord is a long narrow arm of the sea, commonly extending far inland, that results from marine inundation of a glaciated valley. The great depth of ...
SaveHen's user avatar
  • 81
8 votes

Is this sand dollar with barnacles attached to it at all rare?

For practical purposes, rarity is beyond difficult to answer. Sure there may be a biological survey buried somewhere in some journal, but specific topics like that don't get much traction outside of ...
Russell Steen's user avatar
8 votes
Accepted

Where have all the sandpipers gone?

Almost all North American sandpipers nest far up north (from the northern Great Plains to the shores of the Arctic Ocean). They winter in moderate numbers along the coasts, and very large numbers of ...
Tom Gaskill's user avatar
8 votes

What’s the best thing to wear on your hands when sea kayaking in very cold weather?

Sometimes known as paddle mitts, pogies are your friends here, you can choose to wear gloves in them as well or not, depending on how cold it's got, but most importantly they allow you full contact ...
Separatrix's user avatar
  • 8,077

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