The other DrC and I sailed across the Pacific Ocean last month, from Los Angeles to Hawaii, Guam, Okinawa, Taipei, Shanghai, Kagoshima and Osaka. Having seen multiple stories like this one from Deep Sea News concerning the floating debris supposedly littering the ocean surface, I kept a weather eye on the ocean looking for floating trash.
Our cruise lasted 25 days and in that time, across the whole of the Pacific, I saw exactly one piece of floating garbage. It looked like a plastic bag you'd use to bring home groceries. Hour after hour, mile after mile, I saw clean, blue sea with white foam - sometimes calm, sometimes not.
I know stuff washes up on beaches, it always has done. That's why there are beachcombers. Is there more now? Probably. Is the Pacific a gigantic floating garbage dump? Not even close, per my recent transit at a relatively leisurely 18 knots. At least not in the lattitudes we traversed.
