ANNA MARIA ISLAND – Anyone who’s ever owned or rented a personal watercraft knows that after about a half-hour in the turbulent ocean, it becomes quite a workout.
Now imagine traveling more than 20,000 nautical miles on a craft that size.
That’s exactly what a 60-year-old man from Spain is doing as he attempts to circumnavigate the Earth alone on the smallest watercraft in history.
This isn’t just an attempt to get his name in the record books; there is a personal reason as impressive as the feat itself, and it brought Spanish explorer and environmentalist Álvaro de Marichalar Sáenz de Tejada to Anna Maria Island on Thursday.
De Marichalar arrived on Anna Maria Island the evening of March 3 and departed on March 5, en route to Pensacola and far beyond. The Island wasn’t on his planned route, but he said he enjoyed his time here.
He is celebrating the fifth centennial of the first circumnavigation of the Earth by Juan Sebastian Elcano in 1522, initiated in 1519 by Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan, and promoted by King Charles I of Spain. The next destination on the route is Pensacola, the first European settlement in the U.S., founded in 1559 by Tristán de Luna, predating the Florida east coast settlement of St. Augustine by six years.
De Marichalar says he is a direct descendant of de Luna and an honorary citizen of Pensacola for that reason, and is excited to make a stop in a city so important to his family heritage.
“I really wanted to replicate the original journey. I left Seville, Spain on Aug. 10, 2019, on the same day and the same hour of that historic date and time 500 years earlier,” he said. “If you don’t take risks, there is no progress. To discover is to learn, taking risks is the only way to advance knowledge. They knew this 500 years ago, and it’s the same today.”
Risk rings true on this journey. The only time a chase boat assisted was during the long crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. Other than that, he has had to rely on the generosity of others to find places to sleep, eat and shelter, from what at times are almost unsurvivable weather conditions. His small Sea-Doo watercraft can only go 200 miles on a tank of fuel, so he must not only carry extra fuel, which takes the place of food and water storage, but other things, such as clothing.
“Sometimes I have to go a day or more without food. I find a remote place to sleep and there isn’t always a place to get food or fuel; I just have to take what I can get,” he said. “I get some water and food when I find a place to get fuel. There just isn’t any room on my tiny vessel for much.”
Many have asked why he would attempt something so dangerous.
“It’s my hobby, my passion and my favorite way to navigate,” de Marichalar said. “With a craft this small, you’re not on the boat, you are the boat. I have to always be on my feet, I can’t sit down because it would destroy my spine. Also, if I sit, my skin will tear off after a couple of days.”
The pandemic has delayed his progress, and during the downtime, he has given more than 100 conferences around the world promoting the fifth centennial of the first tour of the world. He has spoken at universities, yacht clubs and schools in the U.S., Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Saint Barthélemy, Guadeloupe, Spain, Portugal, France, Monaco, Italy, Germany, Russia, Switzerland, Austria, England and Greece. In his lectures, de Marichalar always displays the flags of Spain and Portugal together next to that of the Fifth Centenary and also shows the flag of Monaco.
He is an Academic of the Royal Academy of the Sea, as well as a member of the Explorers Club of New York and the Exploration Club of the Yacht Club of Monaco.
After Pensacola, de Marichalar plans to work his way to Galveston, Texas, then to the Panama Canal, which is 3,700 nautical miles from his post-pandemic start in Miami on Feb. 19. The route will follow the U.S., Mexican and Central American coastlines. He will then turn north and follow the west coast of the U.S., then make his way to Alaska and the rest of the world. This journey is not a direct route. Due to the size of his tiny craft, Álvaro can’t leave the coast unless there is no other option.
This journey is expected to last until late 2023 if everything goes as planned. If you would like to follow Álvaro’s progress, and learn more about the incredible undertaking that brought the explorer to Anna Maria Island, visit his website.
