DISCOVER NEW WORLDS
For the past twenty-eight years I have been discovering new
worlds.
When I sailed to the Galapagos, I discovered the Garden of Eden, a
place where man and beast lived in harmony. As we
walked the trails on the different islands, the birds and sea
iguanas went about their business as if we were not there.
If we got too close to their offspring, they might squawk and
scold us for our poor manners, but they knew we would do them no
harm.
When I sailed to the Marquesas Islands, I discovered a nearly
extinct world where tens of thousands of Polynesians
lived until the explorers came with their chicken pox and
measles and decimated these islands with lethal microbes.
Tropical jungle now hides the ruins of their ancient civilization
from our twenty-first century eyes.
When I sailed to the Tuamoto Archipelago, I discovered a world
populated by hundreds of atolls stretching over thousands of
square miles. From bombed out Mururoa to Rangiroa, there
were crystal clear lagoons inviting adventurers to drop their
anchors in the craters of extinct volcanoes.
When I sailed to Tonga, I discovered an island world ruled by a
royalty.
When I sailed to Fiji, I discovered a world of more than
four hundred islands, with each small island ruled by a
tribal chief. If I wanted to visit their world, I needed to
present a gift of Kava to the chief.
When I sailed to New Zealand, I discovered a world of immigrants,
some of them ancient and some recent. The Maori came in
their war canoes centuries ago, and the Europeans were the Johnny
Come Latelys in the Land of the Long White Cloud.
When I sailed to Australia, I discovered a world that has it all.
Tropics in the north, mountains in the south, and everything in
between. There were over 35,000 kilometers of
coastline to explore in the down under world called OZ.
We made excursions into the Hindu world in Bali and the Buddhist
world in Thailand. We explored the Muslim world in the
Maldives, Oman, Yemen, Sudan and Egypt.
We visited Pharos world, a place of temples, tombs and kingdoms
that lasted for thousands of years.
We explored the Jewish world in Israel, and discovered the
Nabatean world in Petra.
We travelled back in time visiting crusader castles in Israel,
Cyprus, and Turkey. Next, we visited ancient Roman and Greek
worlds in Ephesus and Heriopolis.
Finally, we swashbuckled through the Caribbean world where
privateers ruled the not-so-high seas.
That's what it means to be a cruiser. Your small yacht is
both time machine and transporter that takes you to dozens of new worlds.
This nether world photograph
displays Malaysian craftsmanship from the Island of Langkawi.
I've never seen anything like it before, and I'll probably never
see anything like it again.
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