Boston. Around the World voyage complete. Planes, trains, automobiles and tall ships. I’m the luckiest boy in the World.
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Running is as fun as you make it.
This is all good and fun, but I’d trip and plummet to my immediate death
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Really enjoying being a tourist in my own country this week.
The last glacier in Glacier National Park will melt by 2020.
Traveling through Montana via train after 3 days in Seattle and 3 days in San Francisco.
“My favorite authors are the ones living, dead, read and unread, published and unpublished, who write because they can’t stop and because something inside them burns to be outside. That doesn’t necessarily mean that I want to read their books, but they are all and every one my favorites.”
Arrived safely to Los Angeles. Extreme culture shock. There is a crazy machine that makes it so you don’t have to do your laundry in a bucket.
Can’t believe I’m not on the ship. 3 months of coconut-related machete injuries, broken bones, suturing surgical and dental procedures and starting IV’s in rolling seas, wild skin infections, medical evacuations, island clinics and house calls, and of course all of our seasick high risk pregnant ladies .
And fishing.
Incredibly grateful to the wonderful people of the islands who took us into their homes and made us part of their families.
Picton Castle crew, make sure you finish your antibiotics because we’re out. And go have a drink. I miss you immensely.
Delayed in port in Rarotonga. Supposed to leave today at 2pm but held by weather and late cargo.
Setting sail first thing in the morning for Atiu, Manihiki, Perhyn, then Rakahanga.
Chief Engineer David “DB" Brown receiving his tattoo from living master Tetini Pekepo.
T as he is known through Rarotonga and the tattoo and Polynesian heritage communities is a true artist and scholar. He only sees clients by appointments that are scheduled to create living art in the Polynesian revival style of tattoo. He learns your life history during an interview, sketches the spirit of the tattoo lightly on your skin, then lays hands and gives traditional prayer over the area to be worked on. He adds the raw ink in an organic process over hours to create- in this case at least- one of the most beautiful pieces of art I’ve ever seen. He closes the session with a healing massage over the area.
DB received a tattoo regarding his heritage as a native Pitcairn Islander, descended directly from the landing members of the HMS Bounty. Each element of his tattoo tells his and his ancestors story of being seafarers, the struggles they faced, and the draw of his home and life. It is simply stunning.
T is also a massage therapist and healer, and an extremely accomplished traditional ocean navigator and respected in these communities as well.
It was an honor to be able to observe and photograph the process, my thanks to both T and DB.
Hold Fast
From The Atlantic’s comprehensive guide to sailor tattoos.
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/12/a-visual-guide-to-sailor-tattoos/250208/
-A.
Adventure
If you’re running down the road on a tropical island at top speed while hitch hiking for a ride to the airport to catch your last minute flight then you’re doing it right.
Here’s to adventure and to those I have been lucky enough to travel with.
Puka Puka, Cook Islands.
Excursions.
Prepare to hoist the Monomoy.
Rarotonga, Cook Islands.
Sailors. Beware.
Picton Castle, South Pacific Ocean.
Boy meets iPad. Sand for a bedroom floor. Better than yours.
Palmerston Island, Cook Islands.
Church.
First mass in 8 years on the island of Puka Puka.
Puka Puka, Cook Islands.
Simon & David.
Palmerston Island, Cook Islands.
Kids.
Cook Islands: Palmerston, Nassau, Puka Puka.