“Overwhelmed! Wow! Need to breathe. Wow! Wow! Wow!” tweeted Plastiki‘s crew as they approached the Sydney Harbor today.

Plastiki, a boat whose buoyancy relied on the 12,500 plastic bottles encased in its hull, successfully sailed from San Francisco to Sydney, Australia, in 128 days. Carrying a crew of six intrepid explorers, the Plastiki set out on an epic and demanding mission described by the San Francisco chronicle as the “adventure of the century”.

Their mission? To raise awareness about the ridiculously high consumption of plastic bottles. Plastiki estimated at its Web site that 8.7 billion plastic bottles, give or take, had been used in the United States since it set out (NYTimes article).

“If there’s waste, it’s badly designed in the first place, and we need to start taking a serious look at the way we produce and design every product we use in our lives,” expedition leader, David de Rothschild said.

We were lucky enough to hang out with the Plastiki crew on the Pier of San Francisco back in early spring as they put the final touches on their boat and prepared for the adventure of their life.

Here’s one way you can celebrate Plastiki’s voyage with us: kick the plastic water bottle habit by choosing your DOT (that’s your Do One Thing to help the environment) here.

You can keep up with the adventures of Plastiki on their blog, cheers to you Plastiki!