Last night with the moon just one day past full
you could see the sandy bottom and coral bommies in forty feet of water
chalky white like the moon
trade wind clouds shuttled gently overhead
and the surf on the reef seemed content and quiet
it’s good to be awake in the middle of the night
We are anchored in an atoll in the middle of the ocean
blue candy water
the haunting possibility of bonefish
Diana is not wearing clothes
when this winter front from down under passes and the wind settles back in again
what a beautiful place this will be
the passage down was textbook, two 180 mile days back to back
before the wind died for long enough to get a bunch of water made
and top off the batteries
arrived early to see the “pass” out of Raroia roiling like white water in Yankee Jim Canyon
When the internet is everywhere will all these remote places cease to exist
will they be like the color “dunia” of Otto-Raul’s Ten New Colors
undone by the ubiquitous web, always visible, available, knowable
Water makes us vulnerable to weather like nothing else
The wind swings and makes waves even in a protected lagoon
we put a lot of faith in our anchor rode
catching on coral rocks at the bottom
what does it take to break a piece of chain
if a pin works it way out of a shackle
everything we have could end up on the rocks
in a place too distant to recover it
Death by Coconut
Coconut palms are a funny weed to have so beguiled a species
they count as an invasive species here in the Tuamotus
a government subsidized invasive species
I guess so people have something to do, making copra
They are also incredibly dangerous
death by coconut is no joke
death by true love
is real too
you can keep looking up
but you can’t move fast enough
The stars above the motu shine in shrill dissonance
to conversations about digital apps
we are utterly dependent on GPS
and the stars wonder how they’ve become just window dressing
but nobody wants to hit a reef at night
the water sucks away from the cliff like edge and then hammers on like a threat
Kon Tiki wrecked here
Two boats sailed in today from the southern end of the atoll
tandem, tacking upwind in a light breeze
at a distance it looked like one boat
sailing as close as lovers, which it turns out they are
She eased her jib a little to fall back and follow
as they found a way through the coral heads
They moored to one anchor, one with a dark blue stripe, one light
tethered together with a boat length of line
He’s been single handing for six years
she wanted to learn
and when they met she’d already been looking at getting this boat
the same boat
So they sail together, she learning to sail alone
he’s not giving up on single handing,
since they are the same make of boat, they carry spares that work with each
on passage they can take turns watching each other’s boat sail by autopilot
watching for traffic and the hazards
they certainly have more space than they would with just one boat
no one has to climb the mast if there is an argument
but there are risks and downfalls to the arrangement
it’s much more expensive
if something goes on with the other boat, they can only help as much as they are able
they are still truly single handing
they admit that at some point they will move on to one boat
she says it will be hers
a point he is not yet willing to concede
beauteous!