Ahoy mateys! ‘Tis time to splice the mainbrace — that’s pirate talk for gettin’ sloshed! — it’s World Ocean Day. Yo-ho-hmmm, you ask? Well, glad ye did. This day is dedicated to celebrating the briny deep and making sure she’s protected so we can sail ho! Cause without a healthy ocean, there’ll be no poop deck or pillaging, no planks to walk nor timbers to shiver … and worst of all, me hearties, we’ll be no different than ye average Joe Landlubber. Arrr … That’d be a fate worse than … well, let’s just say I’d trade me good eye and me good leg never to think about that again.

On to celebratin’ I say. And what better way than to hop aboard the Ocean Voyager, “a five-part journey to defend our oceans” led by Cap’n Mother Jones, which has been focusing a good bit of editorial time on ocean issues these days. The idea is to sign up to receive an email once a week for five weeks — and each email includes premium content from the magazine about the state of our ocean and ways you can help defend it. As me fellow blogmate (and Oceana CEO) Andrew Sharpless mentioned, the project focuses not on the work of just one organization, but rather points to the efforts of a number of organizations. And each week’s episode (or destination on the voyage route, if we’re using the official metaphor) also focuses on a different marine issue.

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Get on board for the first episode, mateys, as it takes you a few miles offshore from Guinea, West Africa, to chase “fish pirates”! Scroll to the “What can you do?” section at the bottom of the page to learn how to make better seafood choices and petition for marine sanctuaries. I’ve mentioned this before, but I highly recommend downloading the Seafood Watch cards for use at restaurants and groceries. Hand them out at parties or Halloween. I’ve just distributed copies to all me office-mateys.

Subsequent weeks on the “Ocean Voyager” will send you to the Gulf of Mexico dead zone and to D.C. for political wrangling. If you’re into charismatic marine-fauna (and who isn’t?), be prepared to coo through episodes 3 (San Juan orcas) and 4 (polar bears near the North Pole). Does Cute Overload know about this?

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And speaking of semi-related diversions … as an added bonus today (World Ocean Day!), please enjoy this amusing video of kayakers out for a lovely day on the water, minding their business when suddenly … holy 10,000 pound orca breaching on top of a kayaker Batman! Now that is a killer video … (Ha ha, get it? Killer whale, killer video …) Ahem. Now go grab your noggin o’ rum and let’s get to celebratin’, mateys.