Author: wildernessofwaves

Most of the week I have felt as though I'm in mid-air, as if I've had a chill and an ache I can't shake. Today, I'm crashing down. We put the new furler on. It took almost all day. Every little foil, dog-point set screw, drum, link plate, toggle. At one point Gert says, “Check...

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At this stage of my voyage I invite each of you to build a small shrine for Juniper in a corner of your home. Place a little homemade boat there made of origami, or toothpicks and newspaper, if nothing else. Surround it with flowers, a sea blue candle, and a bowl of saltwater. Treat it...

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If the furler saga was like a murder mystery, which by the way has been solved, the shipping of my new parts from South Africa to Namibia has been like a James Bond movie. You would think it was 1960 and I was trying to ship parts from Cuba to the United States. So much...

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All attempts to rebuild my roller furling have failed. Unfurling it in zero wind leaves me breathless and looking like I just climbed Mount Everest. It’s been a total head twirl, and figuring out what went wrong has become a full-blown murder mystery. Here's all the drama and dreamscapes that have happened in my life...

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Rebuilding this furler has been one of the most physically and mentally demanding repairs I’ve ever endured aboard Juniper. More labor-intensive than removing the teak decks in French Polynesia. More complex than the repairs I did in Thailand after that tug boat nearly wrecked me. We got the entire furling system back up, and I...

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I think the African spirits have fallen so in love with me that they are tangling up my boat life in an effort to keep me here forever. It matters not, for I have grown addicted to the dunes. They are a sea of sand, glowing with crystals and reptiles, and they make me feel...

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I’m truly about to depart Namibia. I don’t really want to leave this place that is more ancient than the extinction of the dinosaurs. I could live here. I could become a desert bunny and drink mist like all the other creatures that survive among these semi-precious gemstone dunes. Or I could marry a Himba...

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I’m driving towards Walvis Bay, wondering what it would be like to be the chief’s fourth wife. Would I be treated like one of his cows, or like a chiefess? Would the dance be mutual, and would he be all animal or soft and gentle? Would the other three wives get jealous, band together, abduct...

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WILD CATS I see a sign for wild cats and a lodge. I pull over and bump down a dirt and gravel road. The place is called Eldorado. It’s very Mexican-chic, with flowers everywhere. I ask the receptionist about the cats. A blue tractor towing a metal trailer with seats pulls up. Two men in...

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I feel like a stripper when I write to you, so truthful and vulnerable, not just atmospheric and reflective, but what's really going on in my head. It's as if I have taken all of my clothes off and you can see way beyond my skin, all the way to my bloody heart. DRIVING TO...

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