Kelcey Chandler-Yates and Jim Yates present...

UnderSeaPhotoVideo.com

Redding Record Searchlight Monthly Article!!

September

Here we sit bobbing like a cork with the wind on our nose, seas of 14 feet and 350 miles west of our last port of call, Maupiti. For two years, we have explored the waters, islands and culture of French Polynesia. Now after an exquisite adventure we find ourselves nonplussed about our future.

It is not for lack of plans, as we are meeting at our next destination, a well-known English photographer who will be staying with us exploring the pearl farms of the northern Cook Islands. Rather it is the reminiscences of adventures shared with locals and other cruisers alike that we are troubled to leave. 

How could one not be poignant at the prospect of never seeing again the Marquesans with their jovial spirits, exquisite tattoos, fierce independence, fine carvings and abundance of Manta rays who inhabit their water? The Tuamotins with their laid back attitude about everything except eating which we enjoyed immensely and the walls of shark we photographed that inhabit their passes. Or the Leeward Islands of Tahiti west with not only it's strength of culture but the abundance of pate and French cheeses!

The foremost question on our mind as we leave these islands is; will the next country be as lovely as French Polynesia? Then that is what our adventure is all about is it not?

In the beginning of this journey, we thought that 3-5 years would be enough time to explore the Caribbean, the islands of the south Pacific, reach the Indian Ocean, see the Mediterranean, and eventually finish a circumference of the globe. After all, I circumnavigated the globe when I was 19 in just four and one half months!  Now, in the midst of our fourth year at sea we realize that seeing and exploring are two distinct beings and we have committed to truly discover and investigate the cultures we visit being in no hurry to return to the routine of American society. 

Last winter we did return for four months. How do you guys keep that pace? -How did we keep that pace? Perhaps we learned more from the Polynesian culture than we thought! 

Why is it that Americans need bigger and better when what they have works just fine?   Then again, why is it that we feel we need to discover new lands and cultures when the last was so striking?  Humans---funny creatures!

----Kelcey and her husband Jim previously lived in Redding for close to 20 years and were Chiropractors. Now with their two teenage boys, they live upon their 40-foot catamaran, currently exploring the islands of the south pacific. For information about joining them for adventure travel in unique destinations, e-mail them at svladystarlight@hotmail.com.  Read of their adventures on their web page, www.underseaphotovideo.com where photographs are abundant.