Upon returning home to California from Fiji in early November, I experienced both culture shock and climate shock. Stepping out of the airport and feeling 60-degree air on my face felt like being in the Arctic and I found myself shivering for the first several days. It felt strange to have my body covered and wear shoes while my skin was constantly dry as I repeatedly slathered on coconut oil and coated my nostrils with Vaseline. Eventually, my body adjusted and I began to enjoy the cooler climate.
After living in a constantly changing environment for the past year, being in a familiar place felt so nice. Getting into my old bed on my first night home felt nothing short of heavenly. Laying between plush flannel sheets in a bed that wasn’t moving was such a strange sensation. I was woken up in the middle of the night, hearing light rainfall outside, and jumped out of bed, ready to shut all the hatched and bring in the laundry then remembered where I was and just laid there, enjoying the sounds of the pitter patter.
My first weeks at home quickly filled up with visits to friends and family as well as getting my booster vaccine and a dental visit. Eventually, I made my way to the grocery store to help my dad with shopping and I wasn’t prepared for the culture shock. Although I had been to this Safeway hundreds of times, suddenly it felt giant compared to the small island markets I had grown accustomed to. Every piece of produce looked immaculate and straight out of an advertisement. Each bell pepper was a uniform size and color and I couldn’t see a single fruit or vegetable with mold or signs of worms. It made me realize how privileged and lucky we all are to have access to such luxuries.
As the holidays came and went, I began planning my trip to New Zealand which would occupy my time until Eitan would be able to meet back at the boat in Fiji at the end of hurricane season. Eitan and I messaged from time to time but it was hard to adjust to communicating only through the phone. (We did get to briefly see each other as he helped me to surprise my dad with a plane ride above Mendocino.) Normally, he’s no farther away than earshot and I know almost every detail of his day without even asking. Now, I had to regularly remind myself to check in and it was easy to go days or weeks without talking, sort of out of sight, out of mind as we were both busy with family and friends.
During one of our phone calls, Eitan informed me he accepted a job offer. He wasn’t able to find a well-paying captain’s position as he had hoped and felt backed into a financial corner, forced to take a helicopter paramedic job, based in Arizona. My heart sank as I learned his new job required a one-year commitment, suddenly canceling our plans of returning to Fiji in the spring. What would I do now? Should I even go to New Zealand? Is my time on SV Sierra Wind over? I felt lost and emotional as I tried to envision my next steps.
I went back to the drawing board and made a list of what I wanted to manifest. Over the last year, I’d grown to love taking pictures and videos underwater and knew New Zealand wasn’t the place for that. I was open to sailing again but didn’t want to be crossing any major oceans. Then, just 24 hours after Eitan told me about his change of plans, I saw a post on Facebook of a boat looking for crew to sail from Malaysia, down the coast of Sumatra, to Western Australia. I had an intuition in my head to send them a message and was speaking to the captain 20 minutes later who offered me a spot on the boat as crew. I’m sure my 20,000 nautical miles of sailing experience was my easiest selling point!
The boat was part of a YouTube channel called Expedition Drenched whose focus is underwater videography. The captain, Nate, already had a boat in Australia and recently purchased a second boat in Malaysia with plans of uniting the boats as part of a cruising fleet, diving remote reefs off Australia’s coast. The opportunity felt kismet and a way to grow my skill and understanding of underwater videography. After a few questions back and forth, I accepted the offer and booked my flight to Southeast Asia at the end of January.
In total, I got to spend three months at home before flying out and tried to enjoy every minute of the little luxuries and comforts. Eventually, it was time to head to the airport to experience a new boat, a new crew, and a new country!
My goodness! I just so enjoy your sense of adventure! And, of course, wonder about your relationship with Eitan and if you will see each other at all during the year. You are a woman to be admired-I hope you’ll write a book when this is over. Congratulations for manifesting the spectacular!
Linda