12. Coral Sea to Mediterranean Sea 2006-2010

The Heraclitus set sail from Cairns, Australia, to the Southern Indian Ocean and South Africa, where it entered dry-dock near Cape Town with assistance from the Uruguayan Navy which was also docked there. Following extensive repairs, the Heraclitus crossed the Atlantic to Brazil where crew members met with members of an affiliated project, the Matutu Foundation (www.matutu.org). A series of biodiversity studies were conducted in the islands along the Brazilian coast. From Brazil, the ship sailed to the Caribbean: Trinidad, Bequia, Mustique, and Puerto Rico (where crew members visited the Ecotechnics project Las Casas de la Selva), then to Cuba and the Bahamas. The ship then crossed the Atlantic, making landfall in the Azores and entering the Mediterranean, docking at Tangier, Morocco. The first voyage of the Mediterranean leg of the expedition was in September, 2010, when the Heraclitus sailed to Valencia, Spain, for the winter.