You’re my hero, Roz!
Roz Savage, 43-year old ocean rower and eco-campaigner is my hero. She recently completed rowing the Indian Ocean, making that the third ocean she rowed across over the last few years–Atlantic, Pacific, and now the Indian! All to raise awareness about the impending environmental crisis we face as humans… I followed her crossing as much […]
Nocturnal for a Night: Shine-eyes and rock pillows
No one put more wood on the fire, which I interpreted as a sign that weād be going soonā¦Not home, not yet. Tonight Iād be following my local friends out to the reef to look for lobsters. Makae made no grand announcement. Just stood and gathered his gloves, then donned his homemade jerry jug backpack. […]
Whale Tale
Tucked into an inside atoll corner one morning, I felt like watching the open sea crash onto the reef so I took the dinghy in and anchored it on the lagoon side of the reef, then wandered the 500 yards across the island to where the reef dropped off into the open Pacificā¦ The atolls […]
Open Trap Surgery
Three days later, I kept thinking about those trapped sharksā¦so I rallied a friend and we sped off on a quest to free the hostages. ā¦It was farther away than Iād imagined. By the time we found the trap it was late afternoon. I jumped in the water and peered through the fencing to see […]
Sharks Have Feelings Too…
Imagine being able to walk out your front door and select the fish you feel like eating right out of a trap. Thatās life people here in the atolls. Families commonly build āfish trapsā in areas with shallow reef and current close to their homes. The traps are built from iron rebar or local wood […]
Simply South Pacific Living…
“Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life.” –Rachel Carson …After three short upwind hops over the last month, I’ve just arrived to the second biggest of theĀ atolls (population~800)…vegetables, a health clinic, internet, and even a post office! Ahh the luxuries of civilization!Ā So […]
‘Raaou Tahiti’: Respecting Our ‘Roots’
When the Lau family caught wind of my ciguateric state, they quickly reported the news to āMamiā, their Tahitian grandmother who was rich with knowledge of traditional Tahitian medicine or āraaou Tahitiā. Twice the first day, and once for the following three days, āMamiā prepared the local remedy for me to drink. Despite its unappealing […]
Plastic-to-Oil & The Clean Oceans Projectā¦
āNothing but intense love for what you want will enable you to surmount the obstacles in your pathā¦ā āJoe Vitale My few weeks in California went by faster than everā¦The memorial was fantastic and I left Santa Barbara feeling even more inspired than ever by the man who had helped me with the tools I […]
Another Way to Haul-Out
The wind was 15-20 knots hard on the nose as I beat my way 10 miles across the atoll. Sure enough, at a few miles out, I spotted masts sticking up through the coconut trees!?! āItās true! There really is a haul-out yard out here in the middle of nowhere!?!ā I cheered into the wind. […]
When a Little Means a Lot
ā¦I decided Iād hang out with the kids from then on. Although they still looked at me googly-eyed from time to time, they usually just wanted candy. As school was out for āwinter breakā, we held geography and eco-talks aboard Swell, rewarding good answers with ābonbon CalifornieāĀ (Californian candy) as they liked to call it. […]
