Sail Green With SunLife

Sometimes we forget where we came from. We take family, friends, places, moments for granted thinking they will always be here, as they always did, right? But time never stays still, as well as people. "Waiting on a world to change", John Mayer said, and it did change but not itself. We are changing with time, and with time we've changed everything around us, for worse. Global warming triggered a global warning that we will lose everything if we don't change ourselves again, for better this time. The warning wasn't strong enough, it seems. If it was strong enough we would have seen the devastation around us and would have done something about it. Everyone can notice it in the closest surroundings. Our is the sea.

We were born beside it, we depend on it and we can't live without it. The sad thing is, if we keep behaving this way, nothing will live in the sea or sail on it in a few decades. Maybe even sooner. Except for plastics. For those who don't know this new species (lat. plasticus invictus), men made,  has emerged in our environment, especially thriving in the sea, owing to the fact it has no natural enemy. No one wants it, no one hunts it, no one cares. Great tactician this species is, and a traitor of sort. The tactic is to stay still, not move a muscle, as it has none. Like a parasite it waits patiently to be swallowed by a fish, to jump up a boat's propeller or pollute a bay just for fun's sake. The traitor part is, it was made by us and we are constantly being poisoned by it. By entering our eco-system, it also entered our food system through microplastic in fish or big chunks found in more and more whales stranded on the beaches. Islands of plastics and garbage float around in our oceans, like a living thing threatening to destroy our way of living. Let it destroy it, as it's not the right way anyway,  but we cannot let it destroy the nature!

It's not true that no one cares. People see the problem, but are not aware enough to change their way of thinking about the issue. That is why the awareness needs to be constantly highlighted, in focus, to bring the issue out on daily basis as it is a problem every day. This is what Green Sail initiative does. Promoting sustainable tourism in general, with sustainability of nautical tourism as a focal point, Green Sail enthusiasts organize underwater clean-ups along the Croatian shore, educate people on greatest dangers to our sea such as waste management and microplastics by involving many public faces that have a strong connection to the sea and nautical tourism. One part of this initiative are Marina and Charter Programs in which Green Sail partners with charter agencies, marinas, various institutions and individuals, provides and starts informative and educative activities and materials. All boats within the program carry a special green Green Sail flag that identifies the boat and Charter agency as a "friend of environment" and a "green boat". Put in practice this means that the guests on board get an educational material on this big pollution problem, as well as a plea from the employees not to throw waste into the sea.

SunLife is a proud member of this program and initiative. All our boats carry Green Sail flag and live up to the standards of Green Sail activities. Visit us and you will learn how to behave on the boat, in the marina, and at the same time enjoy in sailing on a crystal clear water, rid of plastics and other garbage that doesn' belong to it.

Dario Jerković