After being forced to remain in Miami for a few days to avoid “Andrea”, the first tropical storm of the season, the solar catamaran left the coast of Florida on June 8 to begin the scientific expedition studying the Gulf Stream. “Now we are in the thick of the scientific expedition. We have been travelling… Read more

This morning we resume our navigation northward after one night sheltering in the southern part of the Chesapeake Bay. However, with the continuation of strong waves and frontal wind, the MS Tûranor doesn’t have an easy time. After having carefully consulted the weather forecast, Gérard decides to stop a few hours in a little bay… Read more

Admittedly, there was this tornado warning: “moderate risk of severe tornadoes”, but when the sky is perfectly clear and you are sailing on flat sea with a lovely little steady breeze, you remember the moderate side rather than the word severe. It makes you wonder if we made the right decision in deviating from the… Read more

We made it! We are past Cape Hatteras. The corner at the southern end of Delaware is notoriously famous for its dangerous winds and currents. But that’s not the only danger awaiting us. A mighty storm is approaching us from the American continent and we sure don’t want to face it on the open sea…. Read more

There is a very simple reason for why we haven’t written to you yesterday: We were all terribly seasick. Denis had to repair one of his instruments but that surely wasn’t the only reason why he didn’t come out of his cabin all day. Ahn-Dao and I were lying around, sometimes staring lifelessly at the… Read more

Here we are! As Gérard had planned, we left Miami today soon after noon. Our scientific Deepwater expedition has thereby officially started. As we left the Marina, we were once again accompanied by quite some excitement. Especially Antoine seemed more proud than usually this time. As you might have heard, Miami is known for its… Read more

We almost made it! With just a bit of luck we should be able to finally leave Miami behind us by tomorrow at noon. But for our team onboard that implied a day of heavy work. The spare motor, an inappropriate small box for its weight, had to be moved from the inside of the… Read more

She arrived and moved in without our consent. Inconsiderate, noisy, totally disrespectful, it’s Andrea. Look at her picture, she couldn’t be any more egocentric! And the Gulf Stream, not a small boy himself, is all turned around, interrupted off Cape Hatteras! The boasting and muscle flexing are long gone. Finished! Ridiculous! What happened to the… Read more

There’s not really a way to put this appropriately, but this entire adventure is just more than amazing. Writing this blog post, I’m sitting on the covered back part of the MS Tûranor, facing the Miami skyline and some raindrops falling silently on the surface of the ocean. Behind me there’s some serious action going… Read more

The MS Tûranor PlanetSolar departed from St. Martin (French West Indies) on May 23, and reached the shores of the United States on June 1. The ship will begin the practical stage of her second life—dedicated to science—as part of the expedition that will study the Gulf Stream, one of the most important regulators of… Read more