Tag Archives: ocean awareness

Man Paddleboards from Florida to Battery Park City!

Tom Jones paddles into Battery Park City (Credit: New York Daily News)

Tom Jones wanted to do something to raise ocean awareness.
(No, not sing “She’s a Lady,” that’s a whole other Tom Jones)

Tom Jones of Huntington, California wanted to take a 1,500 mile trip along the Atlantic Ocean from Key West, Florida to Battery Park City, New York to raise ocean pollution awareness.

“Going out in the ocean and doing this campaign was a way for me to see how bad the situation was out there, Every day I was in the ocean I would see plastic bottles, food wrappers, all type of trash. It’s incredible given the volume of the ocean,” said Jones to the New York Daily News.

During his journey, Jones encountered sharks, horse flies and an unfortunate circumstance with an alligator after hitting the animal’s leg with his paddleboard.

A crew drove along the coast with Jones, and another colleague floated along with him to pass him food and water.

Jones traveled in 15 miles stretches a day and finally landed in Battery Park City after 90 days of paddleboard travel.

According to his approach to the narrow waterways of New York City, “Coming into New York City, where the waterways are tighter, the plastic is so dense,” he said. “There’s plastic forks, 5-gallon plastic buckets, bags, cups, all of that.”

Welcome to New York buddy!