Home to four of the seven Oceans Seven challenges (Catalina Channel, Molokai Channel, Tsugaru Channel and Cook Strait), the Pacific Ocean can be an inviting place … as opposed to the irascible English Channel (see Donal Buckley‘s video below of this week’s conditions seen from Dover Harbour).

The Pacific Ocean’s name was given by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan during his world circumnavigation in 1521. He encountered favorable winds as he reached the ocean and called it Mar Pacifico in Portuguese, meaning “peaceful sea”.

Photo shows Greg O’Connor crossing the Catalina Channel in the Pacific Ocean in 2010.

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