hello brethren.
boy howdy is the rain comin’ down, blankets and sheets of it i tell you.
i’m tucked away working on some web things (big changes coming round here!) and thinking positive thoughts for tomorrow’s rescheduled plan of a haulout. if this silly company organizing the job is able to come up with one single reason more why it can’t happen this time around they’re going to win the contest for most creative geniuses of all time. because every excuse in the book has already been used. “island-time” lamentations are kind of getting old, you know?
anyways, i’m moored here at the base of Mother Mountain, amidst a number of tiny villages filled with lovely people. life is full of things like sweet fruits from the open air market, late afternoon swims, and chats with kids who love their outrigger canoes and homemade slingshots. i’m learning some pidgin english, and making plans for the future.
last weekend, i met a man on the wharf who spoke softly and told me of his island just around the bend. he said i should walk one hour in the direction of the volcano and i would find a footbridge that would take me across the water to his land. so that is what i did.
when i arrived at the outer edge of the village two girls came rushing out to ask where i’d come from. everyone always seems very incredulous to find i’ve traveled alone so they instructed that henceforth they would accompany me. together we spent the afternoon walking the island and then later hiking back through that black ash desert in search of some local hot springs. everywhere we went people rushed out to say hello, throngs of kids joining the ranks as we paraded along. there was a lot of laughing and fresh air and sunshine - those simple pleasures of another day well spent.
more soon, my friends. xo.
I’m still at sea.
This post is from my first voyage, sailing alone around the world from 2009 to 2015. These days I live aboard El Dorado in France and send dispatches from the boat.
Get the dispatches on Substack →
Or get real mail from the boat: the Foreign Correspondence Club.