quote of the day:

"as bokonon says: 'peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from god.'"

kurt vonnegut jr. from cat's cradle.

amen mr. vonnegut, amen.

news out of darwin:

so we got our third crew member - geoff from cairns who i believe is 58 and is an accomplished sailor. he'll be here in a few days time. i'm looking forward to meeting him. once he's here, we'll finish stocking up and get zephyr ready for the indian ocean. hopefully we'll pull out of darwin by the 1st of the month or thereabouts. the sooner the better. it is so hot and humid here. it must be in the 100s. i am forever swimming in my own sweat in this god forsaken land. drip, drip, drip. it's necessary to take two cold showers a day at least. so, the fresh sea breezes of the indian ocean will be a welcomed change to say the least. where are we headed you may be asking? well, let me tell you. we are headed to either christmas island or cocos keeling (wind depending) where we'll spend a few days resting. i shall most certainly be spending most of my time there underwater as both christmas island and cocos are world renowned scuba sites. i think i was a fish in a former life, no?

from cocos we'll head to madagascar, most likely direct, although there is a chance we'll stop in either mauritius or seychelles before hand. we would love to stop everywhere but we kind of need to be clear of the area around northern madagascar by december as the hurricanes start to play then. we'll spend about a week in madagascar and then head to south africa! so errol is on the home stretch for his circumnavigation! only 6,000 plus miles to go! oh dear god. from south africa i think i'll head to kenya via plane because i'm oh so ancy to see my fam there. after some time in kenya my rough plan is to travel over land back down to south africa for the world cup in the summer of 2010. errol has said i can go to a game with him! (he's got 2 tickets to 2 games). so listen errol, i will hold you to this. okay, deal. after the world cup maybe i could go up to cairo. i've got a friend (miguel merino) studying there. plus the red sea is superior. i would really like to train to be a divemaster so i can lead dives and make some money during my travels before going to grad school. on that note i'm thinking about underwater archaeology! how cool would that be? i could supplement my income by being a scuba instructor on the side and, i don't know, maybe doing some underwater welding as well (very lucrative i understand). the other option is cultural anthropology, focusing on the south pacific island region. studying food procurement there. learning about fijiian spearfishing fleets? who knows? on the other hand, i could always go with my original plan of law school. but i must say, i think that interest is fading fast.

okay, that's all for now folks. it's time for another cold shower.

and now...for some words on fruit.

pineapple is my favorite fruit. it's probably my favorite food. it may even be my favorite thing. in the whole world. i cook with it a lot. i put it in curries, stir fries, soups and simmer pots. you can put it in a cake, on pizza, salads or ice cream, or just eat it straight up. pineapple liqueor is good, and pineapple juice is even better. you can use it as a delicious garnish for a fancy dish or a tasty drink...this all begs the question: what doesn't pineapple go with? the answer, of course, is nothing. below is a poem i wrote whilst sailing which expresses my love for this fantastic fruit.

ode to the pineapple

o what pleasures hide 'neath your prickly skin!
thy is drunk on the perfume that outranks the scents akin.
a sweet boquet not found in all the king's wineries,
and lush golds that shine more brilliant than the finest of fineries.

redolent of shimmering sun swept beaches,
thy would seek'est thee to the farthest of reaches.
and take thou in dressed or naked
o! to taste a flesh so sacred

(this is the second version, after some suggestions from my mom. here's to around the world poetry collaborations!)

...and, more passage poetry...

the one that got away

with a whump or a whir or even a whine
a booming voice bellows "what is this thing that tugs at my line!?"
a BIG fucking fish, a creature so fine?
and moments from now, you shall be mine!
that is until it gets gone as quick as it came

leaving our hero to forlornly proclaim:

"oh shit my china, i'll git'ya next time!"

i'm in darwin now, after another long passage (1370 miles, 12 days) from cairns. it was nice to be on the inside of the great barrier reef and enjoy the relative luxury of smooth sailing through calm waters. we have to get ready for the indian ocean crossing now and will probably be here for a week or so as we stock up and fix the boat. zephyr's fridge is busted which ain't so cool. pun intended! we also have some engine and battery issues. it's an expensive lifestyle living on a boat, that's for sure. good thing i'm not paying. thanks for that, errol.

we also need to find crew while we're here as our last crew member jim, who we picked up in cairns, decided that sailing is most certainly not for him. he got seasick soon after we left cairns. "is it always like this!!?" he lamented, referring to the swell. "umm, no, it's usually way way more rough dude." oh well.

so i think i'm going to walk around cairns with a sign - "ever dream of sailing across the indian ocean? well here's your chance!!" it should make for a fun filled afternoon anyway. i'm sure it would generate a lot of interest around all of the hostels in darwin. we could sail on as a crew of two, but well, the indian ocean is big and one more crew for watches equals more rest time and i'm a big fan of rest time...

we are anchored in the bay just beyond the sign. i'm almost positive i saw a croc dive as i motored to shore today in the dinghy. maybe not the kind of anchorage where you jump off the boat for a dip. which is too bad, really, because it's oppressively hot in darwin. 95 degrees all the time?

every sun-down we watch to see if there's a "green flash" which errol insists really does occur. apparently if it's really clear (as in no coulds around the sun) a very quick (like blink and you miss it quick) green flash will happen just as the last bit of sun goes under or down or wherever it is that it goes.

we saw dolphins almost everyday on the 12 day sail from cairns to darwin. this particular time it was a group of about 10 (it's hard to count them accurately when they're zig zagging all over the place as they play) with really large adults and some babes as well. one of them was swimming right under us as we looked down at it from the bow. it kept turning on its side so it could look up at us as if to say "oh hey there!!"

fish jerky...not quite sure if i'm a fan or not. it's a good way to preserve your catch when the fridge is overflowing with fish though.

i want gills now.

the austrian brothers. i went on a few dives with these guys. they are way more experienced than me so it was good training. i got in trouble for going to 22 meters when i was with them. technically i'm only supposed to go to 18 meters with my open water certification but whatever. we also stayed down for 49 minutes on a couple of dives which is quite long for a single tank and takes some good breath control.

more reef. but never enough.

the great barrier reef. my home for 3 days and two nights. i did ten dives and am now a certified diver - aw yeah! i should have done this when i was like eight, but it's ok i'll just have to compensate for all my lost time underwater from now on.

cairns has pianos around town. just sitting there waiting for people to play them. it's beautiful. errol said it would't last two mintues in africa. they'd be stolen so fast. but it works here. i could live here. maybe i should go to grad school here. artsy, hip, young crowds with a vibrant social scene it seems, the waterfront, the reef of course, and a good school (james cook university) nearby.

this side of the world has some seriously fantastic markets. although not quite on the same level as the fiji marketplaces, cairns' fresh fruit and veggie stalls are impressive. fresh stuff is a luxury after a long passage, believe me. you know what else is nice? not getting thrown all over the place by a swell whilst cooking. i made this salad tonight and it was delicious if i do say so myself. but it's all about the ingredients, clearly. bed of fresh lettuce, green and yellow capsicum, cucumber, tomato, onion, avocado, pineapple, carrot strips and fresh coriander (which as my former crew mate andy would say, is "a dream") all tossed in a balasmic vinegar, olive oil, honey, dash of lime juice and salt-pepper dressing. topped, of course, with grilled chicken breast marinated in a soy-honey-ginger sauce. i've got to deliver now that errol has named me the "offical cook" on board.

in other news, i started my padi scuba course today. i was the only person that signed up for today, so i had one on one instruction as opposed to the one on twenty the day prior. after another day in the pool and classroom i'll have three days and two nights on the great barrier reef. dream. then i think we'll pull out of cairns and head west along the north coast towards the indian ocean. long passages upcoming. africa upcoming!?

wait a second who's steering?? oh that's just our wind vane. so we're using the wind to propel us forward and to steer. heck yeah, wind! i believe we're moving along nicely at about 5 knots on our starboard tack here. sorry the quality is such crap, my little camera apparently cannot handle the intense rays of tropical sunshine.

this bar is connected to the marina where we're staying right now, on the waterfront in cairns. after three months in the islands it's a wonderfully refreshing modern rendition. outdoor couches with pillows and trees coming up through the decking? yes please. andy and andy - please note, and incorporate the following into your bar: long colorful bed-like couches and fluffy pillows. and plant life is a must....i was laying here sprawled out on a couch reading with my beer in hand and a local tradesman walks past. as we make eye contact he says, "you got the good life there, isn't it mate?" "yes, yes sir it is."

this is a free public salt water pool right on the edge of cairns harbor. again, love the art work.

obviously i like what the artist has done with the bench here.

our first glimpse of australia as errol and i sail into cairns.

jesus rays at sea.

boat-made pesto pizza (from scratch). i have discovered a new passion! i love to cook. i am the unofficial "cook" on zephyr which i relish 'cause i'm perpetually refining and expanding on my skills in the kitchen.

yes, another picture of a dying fish. perhaps too many? this is a good sized mahi and she was delicious. i don't have a good enough picture of the big wahoo we caught, but who needs to see one more dead fish anyway.

barracuda-snake-monster-thing. apparently they have green bones.