Welcome to Iceland. A land of wonders, mystery and history. A land full of life, diverse, unique and inimitable. A land that is screaming for help. Join us protecting it, getting on-board an expedition, a cleanup or one of our scientific investigations. Help us take care of our beautiful island. Join us in our Mission to protect the Ocean. www.oceanmissions.org

❗️We have been cleaning the 🏝️ coastline of Eyjafjördur for two weeks now and this was only possible thanks to our wonderful partner @mission_blue ❤️ 🥰 Not only did they make it possible to create a Hope Spot in the North of Iceland, they are also supporting our clean-up efforts in this area with funding,, meaning we were able to establish a new Beach Cleanup Network in Akureyri 🏠. Thanks to this, we will have some wonderful events in the next weeks, including Trash to Treasure Workshops and some discussions with locals 😊. This week we will continue with a Trash to Treasure workshop on Thursday the 14th and a cleanup for World Cleanup Day on Sunday the 16th of September. #missionblue #worldcleanupday #beachcleanup 📸 @rover_girl_world #pollution #icelandnature #saveouroceans #iceland #beach

Take action, spread the message and be part of the solution 🌈🙏🏾. 🌊 let‘s clean up the shores of Iceland, one wave at a time. Join us in the fight for a cleaner and greener world! 🌍🧹 #IcelandicShores #BeachCleanup #SaveOurSeas #oceanmissions #protectouroceans #cleanup #oceanconservation #cleanseas #trashfree #plasticfree #arcticenvironment #iceland #icelandnature

Iceland 🇮🇸- the country where one can chase rainbows 🌈. But sadly the rainbows we can find quite often are made out of all those colourful plastic pieces that we so often find on our beach cleanups. ❗️ And it‘s enough to make a full rainbow 🌈 out of plastic bottles🧴that we only found on 100 meters of beach in Langanes 😔. Let‘s try to make this world a cleaner place by reducing and appropriately recycling our trash. ➡️ And if you can you are always invited to join our clean ups 😊 #oceanmissions #protectouroceans #beachcleanup #cleanup #oceanconservation #cleanseas #trashfree #plasticfree #arcticenvironment #iceland #icelandnature

While most of the trash we find in Iceland is related to fisheries, we sometimes find some special ones: toiletries, toys, six-pack holders, foam dispensers and bottles of all kinds. All these items came from one beach and are just a selection. #oceanmissions #protectouroceans #beachcleanup #cleanup #oceanconservation #cleanseas #trashfree #plasticfree #arcticenvironment #iceland #icelandnature

🤩 New acquisition 🤩 ❗️Did you know that plastic bottles are among the 5️⃣ most frequent finds on our beach cleanups? ➡️ Ditch the plastic, make waves of change! 🌊♻️ We are happy to announce that we are now selling our reusable mugs and bottles in our Ocean Missions room in Húsavík! Stop by and get one 🥳. Let’s keep our beaches clean and our oceans thriving! 🐬🌴 Thank you @pantai_eu for this beautiful collaboration! #noplastictide #nopollution #reduce #reuse #recycle

DO YOU KNOW WHAT eDNA IS? We are very proud to present our new project eWHALE in collaboration with the University of Iceland, North Sailing and biodiversa+ 🌊 For this project, we will be conducting an environmental genetic material study, also known as eDNA, in collaboration with 7 other countries. Exciting, right? 🤩 Let's see a little what it is about! eDNA research is really something else: it serves to detect the presence and persistence of species within a community without performing invasive sampling, as opposite of other technics, such as biopsies. Therefore, we are able to monitor and protect all of our beloved marine animals without any distress or harm towards them 🐋💙 Furthermore, the sampling will integrate a citizen science module to educate the interested public in this new and revolutionary scientific technology, as well as a public campaign to properly disseminate the project findings to a broad audience. Keep tuned for more information about all of this! 👀

Sailing around Iceland with @oceanmissionsiceland on the @schooneropal was amazing for multiple reasons, with one of the biggest being incredible wildlife we came across. All creatures, from the tiniest zooplankton to the largest humpback whale, are incredible and worth protecting. That is why the ocean conservation work being conducted and championed by this organization is so incredibly vital to Iceland and all of its inhabitants.

Sailing with @oceanmissionsiceland on @schooneropal was an epic experience! With nearly 24 hour sunlight and being driven by the whims of the weather, traveling was a surreal, thrilling, and freeing experience.

This is what gives us Hope. What feeds our soul and moves our wings, always forward. This is why every day we wake up, and why we get out of bed every morning. Back to work. And there is nothing more worth fighting for. WISH 💫 ACT 💪 PROTECT 💙

Beach cleanups are an important and practical component of ocean conservation, allowing us in real time to see the impact of pollution on specific areas. After conducting three separate beach cleanups with @oceanmissionsiceland, it was surprising to see how much plastic based material from fishing operations was found in remote areas of Iceland.

NAVIGATING THE OCEAN WITHIN💫 Embarking on an adventure such as an expedition in the arctic and sub-arctic waters is already, by itself, a form of challenging yourself that very few face in their lives. If you add to this an emotional and introspective journey of reconnection and communication, with yourself and with others, what you get is a life-changing experience. Delving into nature, hand in hand with someone who accompanied us on our way to ourselves, has been revealing in many ways. With ur personal pirate therapist, Raíssa from @piratasdoamor, we have cried, we have laughed, we have shared dreams, hopes, fears and sorrows, and together we have created a refuge on the waters of our beloved Hope Spot. Ópal has been the perfect setting for this experience, giving us the warmth of a home and the security of an empire, leading us to realize everything that makes these waters a crucial place for the survival and health of our oceans - and, therefore, of our planet and ourselves. We have learned about biodiversity, about whales and their mysterious customs, about the loyalty of birds and their brave migrations, about the crucial importance of the Arctic ecosystem, which rests on the tiny shoulders of the phytoplankton that inhabits it. We have learned about currents and winds, about how to navigate a schooner that was created for war but now fervently serves peace. We have learned to empower ourselves, to be confident in our mission, to raise our voices towards the sun and demand to be heard, with a "My name is... and I say HI!". In short, we have learned to admire and respect what surrounds us by learning about it and loving ourselves more. And everything, with an eye on the horizon: A future where the ocean and humans finally live in harmony. An immense thanks to all the crew that accompanied us in this expedition, and most of all to @raissateles and her enlightening guidance through all the trip🤍