Visitors in the Gambier and Fakarava

“This time is hard to find heaped under a mountain of machines and motivations all founded on hours and minutes.” ~Wyatt Stevens

The decision for Shannon, Josh and Wilder (3, almost 4) to visit came down fast, and within a week and a half we were picking them up at the little motu off the eastern side of the Gambier Archipelago. They dove in, they played, they pushed themselves. We laughed, we learned, we loved. It was a 3 week plan, which, in  hindsight, should have been simply spent in the lagoon, but Josh was keen to take an ocean passage, so we gave it a shot. Shannon was facing some real demons by even considering the feat. There’s a superstition in the sailing world about not undertaking a passage departure on a Friday. Well … not only was it a Friday, but guess what the date was?! Yep, the 13th!! Needless to say – we ended up shifting gears; they flew instead and we met them with Allora in Fakarava, 5 days later. Plan B worked out great! The memories from this adventure have been distilled into flashes of Wilder being wonderfully true to her name, snippets of her remarkable imagination with words (notably ‘Shit Bullet’) and scores of her laughter as she’d commune with the fishes. We were struck by a force from which we will never recover. Oh, and yeah, her parents are sensational, too!

“To see the world as it awoke in its own defenseless candor.” ~WS

8 thoughts on “Visitors in the Gambier and Fakarava”

  1. Finally spending time more deeply exploring these posts. Wow, that was an amazing experience you shared with Wilder, Shannon & Josh. Truly, if she does become a marine biologist we will know where the idea was born. Missing you all – Allora included! xoxo Lori

    1. Hi Lori! I am finally seeing this comment from November, if you can believe that?! Thanks for taking the time to browse, and as always, I so appreciate your enthusiasm. In the process of trying to get some new posts made, so wish me luck …

    1. Hi Sheryl!! So so glad you found this post! Can you tell how wrapped around Wilder we are?! Sorry for the incredible delay, but I just got the first morsel of wifi since I was able to make that posting well over a month ago! Hope this finds you well?!!

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