I'd begin with the past, travelling to the a time before this stretch of ocean had encountered fishermen and whaling ships - how many magnificent marine creatures would we see? Imagine all the whales and sea monsters. Okay maybe we can skip the monsters [Editor's note: Jeez, what kind of self-respecting sci-fi episode is this Helena? Bring back the monsters! Um...right. Back to warp speed.].

So what would I see if I went forward in time? If we continue as we are now we might not ever come across sea birds circling, flying fish flying, dolphins surfing and whales breaching. Scarier than the monsters. I shudder as I shake that thought and replace it with images of an ocean once again teeming with life. We need to maintain our 'esperanza' and keep pushing for positive action.

Meanwhile, a few hours later, stardate 18.3 *insert clunky visual transition here*

Turns out we lost the cyber porthole for a while there and I was unable to go online. Also the plasma cutter never did show up, it got stuck in Mexico City. (How old skool - I mean, no-one could even work out how to get it to bend the space-time continuum so it would show up on time.) So there goes my time travel plans - although am happy to be here now. I realise now is the only time we can do something to ensure in the future we are NOT sailing across oceans only populated by plastics - with or without the plasma cutter.