Annasley is travelling along the southern border of the Sargasso Sea.
The Sargasso Sea is full of Sargassum Weed, it looks a bit like seaweed, but it’s actually a type of algae, and so it doesn’t need to take root on a rock to grow. 🌿
You might think that the weed is called Sargassum because it’s found in the Sargasso Sea, but in fact it’s the other way around; this weed is so prevalent here, that the sea is named after the weed!
Up until 2011, it was just ‘quite prevalent’, but since 2011 it’s bloomed ENORMOUSLY (one bloom was recorded at 1600 square kilometres!!), causing real problems, particularly coastal. Giant islands of the stuff are floating out there now, it can clog propellors on motor driven vessels, and make rowing progress extremely challenging.
Scientists aren’t quite sure why there has been such a huge bloom of it, but many believe it’s due to a combination of climate change and fertiliser run off from the land.
Annasley has seen a lot of Sargassum Weed around her recently, hopefully it will thin out and she won’t be too badly affected by it.
