A group of sailors circumnavigating the Americas is in Bermuda this week to offer free presentations on marine science.

The five-person crew, which made landfall on Wednesday, has invited schools and the public to witness presentations about the oceans as part of the Around the Americas expedition.

Around the Americas is a 14-month sailing and research voyage that aims to spread the idea of the Americas being a single island and the surrounding waters, one ocean.

The approach aims to foster a wider sense of community while sharing education on the marine environment and encouraging younger generations to become stewards of the ocean.

The crew, sailing aboard the 48ft vessel One Ocean, is conducting research and collecting data to learn more about problems around ocean health.

It follows their 2009-2010 expedition on S/V Ocean Watch and will follow the same route.

The group left Anacortes, Washington, in the US in May this year and since travelled trough the Northwest Passage in northern Canada.

They will now travel along the East Coast of the US, Puerto Rico and Brazil, before continuing to the Falkland Islands, Cape Horn, Chile, Peru, Ecuador and the west coast of North America.

The expedition is expected to span 31,416 miles and stop at more than 50 ports in 12 countries.

The crew will conduct three research programmes — a pole-to-pole kelp study will look at floating canopy forests, with a focus on the bull kelp and giant kelp, to learn more about the regional and global patterns in forest health, as well as their roles in biodiversity and carbon cycling.

The atmospheric and seawater properties research programme will look at the interactions between coastal oceans and the earth’s atmosphere, as well as their larger affect in climate science.

A study into whale identification will also go ahead, with work alongside the groups BC Whales and the North Coast Cetacean Society to study fin, orca and humpback whales through high-resolution photo identification.

The information gathered will go towards conservation strategies and aid efforts to protect whales and their critical habitats.