43
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 ...
- 12.1k
42
votes
Accepted
How much sea water can I safely drink?
How much sea water can I safely drink? = None
If you drink sea water, how much fresh water do you need to drink to off set the sea water you drank? = 2.8 units of distilled water per 1 unit of sea ...
- 30.3k
27
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 ...
- 301
26
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 ...
- 2,040
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 ...
- 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 ...
- 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 ...
- 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 ...
- 337
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 ...
- 4,662
18
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.
- 30.3k
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 ...
- 3,034
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 ...
- 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 ...
- 3,486
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 ...
- 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 ...
- 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 ...
- 4,662
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 ...
- 9,678
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 ...
- 26.1k
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 ...
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 ...
- 1,329
11
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 ...
- 566
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 ...
- 3,486
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 ...
- 201
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 ...
- 530
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 ...
- 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 ...
- 4,662
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 ...
- 32.1k
8
votes
Accepted
Looking for snorkeling sites with healthy coral
I haven't been diving/snorkeling in 10 years. But, back then I was looking at the U.S. Virgin Islands because the dive/travel websites and travel books I read told of nice snorkeling beaches on those ...
- 689
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible