Trip to the South Pacific:
September 14th, 2010
My son, Jess, and I sat out on a grand adventure to the South Pacific.
It all began when I reconnected with an old friend, Brian Calvert, through Facebook. 13 or so years ago, I lived on San Juan Island in Washington state. Its a small place where most everyone knows one another. Brian was the Port Commissioner of Friday Harbor as well as the co-owner of Friday Harbor Yachts.
We had a few adventures together back then.
I had recently left the comfort and security of the corporate world where I was an engineer and front line supervisor. I moved to the San Juans to co-found a non-profit for dolphins and whales.
We were both involved in different ways in the work going on to free Lolita, a wonderful Orca, from SeaAquarium Miami. Lolita was taken as a juvenile from her family in the San Juan's and had been performing in Miami for over 25 years. She was the last one remaining in captivity that had been taken from the Northwest before it became illegal to do so. All the others had already died in captivity.
Brian once took a friend and I on a yacht to another island for dinner. Another time he flew us to Seattle on his private plane.
We lost touch after I left the island to head to California for awhile.
I found another friend on Facebook, a photographer named Kelly Balcolm-Bartok who had worked on the Free Willy movies. His father is a famous whale researcher named Ken Balcolm. We had also known one another when I lived on San Juan. After we became Facebook friends, I began wondering if he would have any other Facebook friends that I might know from my island days. I came across Brian in Kelly's friends list.
When we reconnected, Brian was in Puerto Viarta, Mexico, preparing for a trip cruising around the world on his yacht. Brian began inviting me to join him in Paradise. He kept luring me in with amazing photos, Facebook and blog postings about his grand adventures at sea. It's fairly rare to come across a man who loves the ocean as much as I do.
Anyway, while he was in Tahiti, I told him I had received a pearl in meditation awhile back and would love to have a real one. The pearl I saw in my vision was a Tahitian black pearl. He said it was a funny thing because he had already purchased one. But I'd have to come to collect it myself. Ah, he had so much fun convincing me to join him somewhere.
Each time he asked, I just knew within myself that I was not to go on that journey. I could have gone to Puerta Viarta, or Tahiti, or Bora Bora, or Tonga, or a whole host of other fabulously delicious places. But each time, the answer inside was simply no. I assumed that he would keep asking and I would keep saying no.
But when the offer came to fly to Fiji and stay on board for a month and fly back from Australia, every cell in my body said "yes." I told him I couldn't possibly go for that long and leave my son. So he told me to bring Jess along as well.
The next several weeks were a whirlwind of activity. I had to notify all my wholesale customers that I would not be able to make Dancing Dolphin Essences for at least a month and they needed to stock up by a certain date.
For what seemed like weeks on end, I got up at 5:30 or 6 a.m. and worked until 11 p.m. finishing up projects I was working on, completing a few websites I was designing for clients, doing a bunch of writing on my books, running a couple of sales to have extra cash for the trip. I also had to do a lot of shopping on line - wetsuits, snorkel gear, underwater camera, vitamins and supplements for a lengthy time abroad, plus a few things for Brian. Amazon.com loves me about now.
Then there was the packing. Even though it is a large yacht with lots of storage, there simply isn't room to store big bulky rolling luggage. I convinced him to let me bring 2 rolling carry-ons. But the rest needed to be in duffles. I've been traveling for years, and have never used a duffle. They are too heavy for me to handle easily.
I didn't want to buy duffles, because I didn't plan on using them after the trip. And I just purchased a new set of luggage for Jess and got another set for myself just a few weeks ago. So I asked if I could borrow one from my ex. An odd request for sure, but he has a couple. He sent the big one.
Another friend had just bought a really nice leather one at a used clothing store for $10. She and her family of 6 were about to head out on a 3-week camping trip from Virginia to California and back. They had a big luggage carrier shell for the top of their van. So the luggage that went inside had to be soft sided in order to be stuffed in and fit properly. She said I could borrow it when they got back. They returned on Saturday and we were leaving on Monday. I really only had one day to pack everything.
Looking forward to having fun in paradise,
Debbie Takara Shelor
No comments:
Post a Comment