Editor’s Note: We got something precious in the inbound traffic this morning. Well, there was more than that and it reflected the collision in currents in which we all sail. Our shipmate Marlow rang in from his Coastal Empire with a cautionary and lyrical allegory on social and nautical consequences of large things carooming with the power of gravity and wave action around limited deck space. Like him, we rode big ships that plowed where directed in the world ocean, carrying sleek ships of the air that could leave the barrier of sound behind in earnest motion. This particular morning we hesitate to let the awful event in Texas color the beginning of a holiday that combines honor for those who perished with the joy of the commencement of a new warm growing season, but it is with us all in our gyrations on this blooming and spinning planet.

Marlow’s piece fit the mood set by days of rain and booming thunder. Processing complete, we returned to the in-bound stack. Some pals sent the below. It is part invitation and part now-distant memory of other skies and lives lived under different skies. It evokes choices, some profound in terms of destination and some modest in human interaction. In two short paragraphs are contained the mysteries of life amid the power of the primordial majesty of God’s vast ocean and our brief attempts to explore it on the terms we can. The following is a brief account of mystery under sail, and the places the winds of this world can carry you, if you are willing to turn a winch and settle on a course that favors the curve of your hull. Shipmates Jeanette and Jim set their own course, and we hope to let you share components of their voyage.

– Vic

south sea treasures

“You have no pearls?” she said looking at Jeanette. We were in a small store in the Tuamotus and the Polynesian lady at the register had caught me staring at her beautiful necklace, which was composed of small black pearls on gold posts that looked like a miniature bunch of grapes.

We had sailed east from New Zealand through the Southern Ocean and were back in French Polynesia. We love long ocean passages and this one is still one of our favourites. Carrying full sail for most of the trip we did the 2,500 miles to Raivavai in the Austral Islands averaging more than 180 miles per day. Once there, we checked in with the Gendarmes and were off to the Tuamotus for three months of diving in the mostly uninhabited atolls that are at the top of our ‘top-ten’ list. We were there to film the annual grouper spawning where on the full moon thousands of groupers come out of deep water to mate. The groupers are one per square foot, for as far as you can see in the 200ft visibility, for as far as you can swim. Absolutely incredible.

But nothing compared to the Polynesians. The lady left the store and went next door to her house. She returned with a small box that was full of pearls, everything from odd shaped baroques to nice 6mm black pearls, and a couple up to 12mm. Jeanette picked out a 6mm pearl for a souvenir, but the lady said “no, they are all for you.”

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