Sea of Cortez Expedition delayed by two weeks due to winter storms

On March 11, 1940, author John Steinbeck and marine scientist Edward "Doc" Ricketts left Monterey Bay on a 4,000-mile boat journey to Mexico's Sea of Cortez. For the past few months, the Sea of Cortez Expedition and Education Project, which includes two Hopkins Marine Station faculty members, has been planning to retrace the epic voyage immortalized in the Steinbeck-Ricketts book, Sea of Cortez.

Project members had hoped to leave Monterey on March 11 -- exactly 64 years after the original expedition departed. Unfortunately, recent winter storms along the Pacific delayed the group from getting their refurbished boat, the Gus D, into dry dock for repainting and barnacle scraping.

"That delay set us back a week, but because we'll be studying tide pools at low tides and the tides are on a lunar cycle, that necessitates a two-week shift in the entire schedule," according to the project's website.

The launch date has been rescheduled for Thursday, March 25, from Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey. To follow the progress of the expedition, visit www.seaofcortez.org.