Sailing to Bora Bora, the Most Beautiful Place on Earth || COUCHSAILORS Sailing Journal #15

[@aspectifyful]

I just met Jose tonight. He told me about your awesome videos. Consider me envious! He mentioned that a lot of people are asking about ways to help the corals. I'm a longtime member of the largest coral restoration organization in the world - the Coral Restoration Foundation (CRF). Www.coralrestoration.org. If you want to learn about ways to get involved to help save the dying coral reefs worldwide, check them out

[@COUCHSAILORS]

It was great to meet you and thank you so much for following through by posting this! Hopefully our viewers will be inspired and read up more about it and possibly even volunteer with the CRF. Let's get the word out!

[@MichaelPaulHenderson]

Extra points for Toots and the Maytals!

[@COUCHSAILORS]

🕺🕺🕺

[@westcountry_sailing]

"it's business time" cheek by jowell with toots and the maytalls. confirmation of why I like you two.

[@COUCHSAILORS]

We were trying to get in the zone for our New Zealand destination by getting to know the culture first. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jXiyoJt4rtl-irc

[@mikepeck9321]

We appreciate you showing us the good and the bad. Unfortunately with the rising temps, more coral will be dying and effecting the ecology. For those of us that are unable to get out and see this wonderful world right now, we thank you for your time and efforts.

[@COUCHSAILORS]

Glad you like it, thanks for watching!

[@bobbybaldeagle702]

You kids are so blessed to have this experience... I'm so proud of you to be willing to bring this knowledge about the long over looked need of bring back the beauty of the reefs... Like you said being aware of the needs is the start of each one playing their part. Even if it's a small amount support for the marine biologist and their students together doing experiments and studying the reefs to see what can be done to bring the beauty of the reefs that God has blessed us with... Everyone working together will someday find a solution and bring it back to an healthy reef again... Good job kiddos keep up the good job, and that's for a awesome video... My God continue to bless y'all as you sail and see all the beautiful sites of God's creation....

[@TonyAnschutz]

Your closing comments are well taken. I understand exactly what you are saying. I am a scuba instructor and have traveled many parts of the world diving. Just last week I was in Thailand and saw exactly what you described. you could tell it was once amazing but now just dead structures of old coral with few fish and mostly urchins. Awareness is a start. Perhaps you should have documented and shared that part of the experience too? I was actually depressed after looking below the surface of Thailand islands. Great vid. guys. Keep um coming!

[@oceandrew]

Imagine if you'd been a scuba diver/instructor in the 80's or the 60's. I was first introduced to snorkeling in the early 70s in The Bahamas and from 25 ft the colour and life below was astonishing. From present day videos of similar locations the water is green, murky and the bottom nearly devoid of life.

[@TonyAnschutz]

I found the water very clean and clear in the Bahamas but you are totally correct about the lack of life. Even inside the protected park of the Exumas it was sparse. I live in Cozumel and it is a completely protected area. WE are lucky that it still has lots of life and the reef is vibrant. Very few places like it left underwater.

[@aldoacitelli]

OMG, that's such a beautiful dinghy

[@njdualsportadv8552]

Jose ...thanks for the 7:22 shot.....Awsome !!!!!

[@njdualsportadv8552]

nice to see you back......

[@paulmorrow3053]

Great video and commentary! I enjoy watching.

[@COUCHSAILORS]

That means a lot! Thanks for watching!

[@michaelsamuel4159]

Hi you two. Jose, I like your serenade to Gina (Business Time!) Gina, I heard that every time you pet a ray, a coral head comes back to life. So, get busy. lol. Proud of you two! Cheers!

[@COUCHSAILORS]

Haha, that is a tough challenge for Gina, but I'll try to get her to pet the rays next time!

[@robertburnett1970]

Great video guys .happy your concerned about the environment keep up the great work.

[@AmeriMutt76]

Earths best looking swimming pool, with sharks! Thanks guys! Your closing comments make me sad, I've wanted to get out and see the oceans since getting to dive GBR out of Cairns way back in the nineties. Looks like I had better hurry :/ Thanks again

[@JS-cs8gz]

Hey guys. Thanks for your report at the end of the video. I watch lot of sailing videos and often wondered if the snorkeling or diving videos were done with a less than ideal camera. The coral and wildlife seemed no so amazing. So I appreciate your candor about your experience. We have only one earth. It's our to care for or otherwise. Thanks again.

[@COUCHSAILORS]

Hi John, thanks for watching until the end! Certainly, a better camera would help with our underwater footage. However, if the coral is dead, as in this case, it's dead! It doesn't matter what camera we use, once it's bleached, it looses it's life and color along with it.

[@EmptyNestOutdoors]

Loved the video, I've heard French Poly is awesome and you proved it!

[@chrisholm8030]

I am glad that you said something. As I was watching, I was struck by the coral death, and wondered whether others might notice as well. Hearing you specifically talk about it will maybe raise the awareness of those who don't appreciate how critical this is.

[@Jacoblejd]

Really appreciate the last episode, its good that you shake things up a bit and tell it like it is. You guys are great!

[@COUCHSAILORS]

Thanks, Jacob! We feel like we have a responsibility to tell it how it is!

[@ryangilleland8365]

Great vlog, thanks for sharing your experiences

[@svgitana2499]

She's adorable!! I enjoy your videos very much!! Like they say, think globally, act locally 👍🏻

[@COUCHSAILORS]

Amen to that!

[@timlamarre8680]

Wahoo--fantastic scenery! Need some time alone? Congratulations--you have a real relationship and what it takes to keep it interesting.

[@COUCHSAILORS]

Thanks, Tim!

[@starlight7830]

Hey everybody go to 7:24 the best shot of the series !

[@peternorton7665]

Nice to see you guys ...

[@jandradventures]

So beautiful there!!!!

[@rhondagoodpaster7682]

I love your Intro tune!

[@COUCHSAILORS]

Cheers Rhonda! Thanks for watching!

[@natemcdaniel2139]

You have one of the better sailing channels. Kinda just right. Look forward to pointing my boat to the south Pacific!

[@COUCHSAILORS]

Wow! That's super nice of you to say :) We'll be excited to hear about your adventures!

[@natemcdaniel2139]

I think the term is AUTHENTICITY. Maybe I missed it somewhere...where are you all from?

[@COUCHSAILORS]

Hi Nate! Gina's from Oakland and Jose is from... well, let's just say he's from all over the place. We started the trip in San Francisco though, does that help? www.couchsailors.com/about-us/crew/

[@natemcdaniel2139]

Thanks, I was just curious. BTW, I saw an interesting coral article. If water temps change, some corals can migrate north by as much as 15km per year. Kind of amazing. We are from the Pacific Northwest. Maybe we will meet up somewhere. Are you going to circumnavigate?

[@COUCHSAILORS]

Do they really "migrate" though, or does the bottom 15km dissapear? We wrote our plans on the sand on low tide so we're not sure if we'll circumnavigate, but maybe!

[@pnwesty7174]

Well done, and glad you said something at the end. The reefs you filmed around 12:30 or so looked dead, so I was planning on asking. It's a shame, but I applaud your commentary and desire to work towards some solution -whatever that may be. Cheers.

[@COUCHSAILORS]

Thanks, we're glad you appreciated the commentary!

[@baroquian1685]

A very significant factor in coral death is zinc oxide - the primary active ingredient in most sunscreens. And copper ablative bottom paints are lethal to invertebrates.

[@ChrisDoesWhat]

Nice little video, hope to be on the water in a year part time.

[@COUCHSAILORS]

Awesome, good luck with your own adventure!

[@AuroraCash]

check out ours too. Bora Bora is heaven on earth! we love to go back but next time will be in the island of Moorea.

[@zephyrdog229]

Damn that is really sad. Thanks to you for posting the truth, I've read that over 90% of the great barrier reef is now dead as well. I also feel a great need to get out there and see this stuff before it's all gone. It's a real crime that we have climate science deniers in power in the US as of now as this will only make things much worse. Really it makes me angry that people's stubborn ignorance endangers us all & of course all of our grand children. THanks for the video!

[@COUCHSAILORS]

We couldn't agree with you more!

[@PlanetWatcher123]

Hi zephydog229, Contrary to popular belief (or contrary to what we WANT to believe) ____ the temperatures on our planet have always varied. Nothing is new about Climate Change. If our planet's climate did not change then we would still be in The Last Ice Age. The Ice Age both began and it ended around 13,000 years ago ___long before mankind became industrialized. That said, we should all try to prevent both water and air pollution since we all need clean water and clean air to survive.

[@sailingongrace3243]

WUUUUUUSAH. !!!!!!!!

[@Ninja_Sloth]

I am glad you both spoke about the condition of the coral reefs. I noticed immediately the lack of coral and the prevalence of rock (coral skeletons). The one thing that does contribute quite a bit is people feeding the reef inhabitants. This makes them dependent on people and not the reef. It is incredibly unhealthy for the entire ecosystem. The reason the rays came up to you immediately after jumping in is because the resorts and excursion operators feed them, which is horrible. Also human waste and toxic run off into the ocean are decimating the coral reefs, not to mention rising sea temps. Glad to see you guys are learning along your way and you are not afraid to talk about the dirty secret resorts do not want you to share. Cheers and safe sailing

[@aldoacitelli]

Have you ever thought about pulling up the anchor when you talk him into leaving "for a little while".

[@nhreef]

who was the band playing during your confessional?? Sounded like Felix the cat and his Baggatricks from Key Largo.

[@ChristianFerg]

Awesome footage! The only thing that could make this video better would be a higher quality microphone :)

[@COUCHSAILORS]

Ughh, we agree! Unfortunately these were filmed before we earned enough to upgrade our equipment :( Don't worry, better things are coming! We've had awesome Patreons and we're investing in new gear! Thanks for hanging in there :D

[@MikeSmith-uv8yc]

You fluffed this one big time. Was in Bora Bora and day after day had epic encounters with with countless Mantas, turtles, eagle rays, reef sharks, standard sting rays and reef fish. You just didn't know where to find them. Can't expect to rock up at any random reef and expect much.

[@njdualsportadv8552]

guys , definitely capitalize on the opportunity to generate content , ."Content is KING". i think you guys are GOOD ..really good.....having have HAD 100 videos stretching it out would have made you mode SUBS...GOD bless ..

[@COUCHSAILORS]

There's more on its way!

[@ekner]

Hmm, is that coral bleaching? The reefs look pretty pale.

[@COUCHSAILORS]

Yes, it seems like it to us as well!

[@ekner]

Hmm, I find it troubling, the reefs are just so important. It seems reversing the causes isn't realistic, not before all the coral is dead... I got to reading about reefs after watching this video, and there doesn't seem to be a ready band aid fix yet. Something called biorock looks promising, but it has its own difficulties. It can support transplanted coral in the same places as the natural reefs are dying, but it's complex in the sense that it's a electrified structure and not just something passive, so it needs a fair bit of upkeep to work.

[@COUCHSAILORS]

Interesting! If you find any particularly interesting links, please do share them here. Based on the feedback we've gotten on this video, there are many people interested in learning more!

[@ekner]

Well I can recommend the wikipedia article on biorock, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biorock It's pretty short and bits of it is written like an advertisement, but there's some good information in there too. The concept is to via electrolysis generate rock from the minerals dissolved in seawater - it seems pretty much a perfect replica of a reef. Someone with a good grasp of chemistry should do the material selection so as to not generate any unwanted byproducts which could be toxic, and a safe low voltage must be used, but other than that everything seems very simple.

[@gavinhirt6160]

its your alone time just give me 4 hrs lol

[@peternorton7665]

Hey Gina really ...alone time ...

[@paulcopeland6539]

I was on the main Island 1985 and most of the coral there was dead :) Very sad but it may be partly due to nuclear bomb tests, back in the 70's and 80's. It could also be caused by sunscreen hmmmmmmmmm, I hope it all recovers one day.

[@COUCHSAILORS]

That was such a big motivator for us in leaving early. We kept hearing about how it "used to be" and we're sad to say that it's really not what it once was :( There are likely many causes but what's important is that we collectively understand that there is indeed damage being done.

[@betty-loucreamer112]

I’m so sad for the ocean and the harm Man is doing to our beautiful planet!🇨🇦🇨🇦🐬🐠

[@zzzxxzzz4797]

Say something serious about the environment then laugh while saying see you next time ? What ?

[@tentimes4]

Nice job guys... especially the use of the seldom used word, "jungly'. If your viewers want a good explanation of why the corals are bleaching and dying they can check here, kzbin.info/www/bejne/i6qoqJKIoZ2gp68. To help directly save dead or dying reefs, friends of mine are growing coral grafts in protected areas and when they are old and strong enough, they re-settle the grafts back out on the reefs. This is only a stop-gap measure though if we don't curb the man-made effects of global warming. Keep it up... thanks again.

[@COUCHSAILORS]

Great simpe explanation, thanks for sharing! We heard about coral farming in Fiji where it seems to be picking up steam! It's a small effort, but a great start!