We pointed the Sea Dragon toward the shores of Tahiti once more, and waved goodbye to Pitcairn.
When over the back of the boat, a blue footed booby (as best as I could tell) came out to send us off.
The following photographs are more pictures than you may have ever seen of these tropical birds.
And more than you are likely to ever see again.
Excuse my inability to edit down the selection. When I was on the boat, even close to an island, I felt the presence of any animal that showed themselves to us was special.
It's a big, big ocean and an even bigger sky. Any bird, or mammal that ventures close to us clunky humans may do so by choice.
This post is dedicated to all of the land, sea and sky animals making a home somewhere out in the deep blue pacific.
By the way, we only saw a pod of dolphins when we finally sailed into the port of Papeete, Tahiti. Perhaps this is just unlucky timing. We did cross 5,000 plus miles of ocean though.
We had a pole out behind the Sea Dragon from Easter Island to Tahiti.
We didn't catch one fish.
How sad is it that I have to add that we got several strikes on the line? Again, we could have had a faulty rig (but don't tell Toby that), or we could have....I'm just not sure.
Even sailing through nutrient poor waters shortly after Easter Island, we should have caught plenty of fish once we crossed into French Polynesia. Throw a stone, hit an atoll around there. Reefs around atolls and islands allow for life to congregate and thrive.
The fact remains, we did not catch a fish after crossing 3,000 miles +/- across the Southern Pacific Ocean. I can't think of any fact that disturbs me more from our expedition.
We never saw a whale once we left the coast of Chile.
To answer my friend Harry's question:
There was plenty to smile about, but many experiences that left me with a heavy heart and new inspiration for directing my energies to help the ocean. I will be processing, and remembering this trip for a lifetime.
