I’m
writing this at 36,000 ft on the flight from LA to JFK, the last leg of my
incredible journey. The feeling is very bittersweet, and I didn’t think I would
be this excited to come home, although leaving was difficult. It is also fitting that my last island on this trip will be Long Island, NY.
After
arriving in the Marina Tainia, we got Quester
settled in, finished up some remaining projects and gave her a quick scrub. It
was time to pack up and move out, but instead of getting a hotel the crew on Dreams Come True was nice enough to
invite me to stay on board at the marina for my last 3 nights.
The
marina had a nice restaurant, and on the night of the 30th, we were
invited to a party hosted by Oyster. After a local shaman blessed the skippers
for their remaining journey through the pacific, we were treated to a fire
dancing show (there’s a name for spinning these flaming tennis ball sized
fireballs around your head on strings, but its escaping me at the moment).
There were even a few 10 year-old local boys involved in the show! Ridiculous!
We
had some maintenance to do on Dreams
for the first few days of May, but we did manage to party with a few superyachts
afterhours, two massive sail yachts, Imagine
and Sarissa, and a big Westport named Legacy.
On my last day, May 4th, we rented a car and drove around the entire island of
Tahiti, from Pa’peete in the northeast, down to Teaupoo in the southwest.
Teaupoo is the world-renowned surf spot on Tahiti, and is known for its 25 foot
waves, which break in 3 feet of water on a jagged reef. My flight out wasn’t until midnight
luckily, so I had a full last day ahead of me.
We
managed to fit almost everything in during the remaining time I had, jumping in
for a swim in a grotto, climbing up to a waterfall, and racing a smart car
sized Kia around some awesome roads, spending some time on some awesome black
sand beaches. We finished up a great day with dinner at a delicious food truck
in downtown Pa’peete. I packed up my the last of my stuff, and crammed it all
into the Kia, and Ed was nice enough to drop me off at Fa’a International
Airport.
I've had a very fortunate 25 years and have been to some amazing places and
met some wonderful people. A big thank you to everyone I have spent time with
in the past 5 months, and an even bigger thank you to Jenny for putting up with
me deciding go sail halfway around the world.
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