In 1940, John Steinbeck, the author of Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath, chartered the fishing vessel Western Flyer. With his best friend, marine biologist Ed Ricketts, the author sailed to Mexico's Sea of Cortez on a six-week journey that yielded a pioneering book about the fledgling scientific disciplines of ecology and marine conservation. Seventy fives years later in February of 2015, a marine geologist with a life-long interest in Steinbeck and Ricketts, named John Gregg bought the Western Flyer. He then started the Western Flyer Foundation to specialize in merging the arts and science together in a holistic approach to learning and hopefully inspire the next generation of biologists, environmentalists, artists and researchers.

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