Page 22 of The Sailor in Polynesia
“Very good.” He nodded toward the beach. “Now we will head to the shore and take a left and follow along the beach for as long as we want.”
Distance and effort made it hard to carry on a conversation, and I was too busy focusing on my paddling. Occasionally, Jonas gave me tips.
We hopped from coral head to coral head, peering down from our standing position into the glassy waters below. With no wind, we didn’t have to worry about being blown too far, and the shore was always within easy reach. I looked back to find the boats nearly two miles from us.
The sun and lack of breeze had taken its toll. Sweat dripped down my forehead, collecting under my breasts and at my lower back. Jonas must have been feeling the same, even though he paddled in only swim trunks. He dropped to his knees and swapped the paddle for the snorkel gear under the bungee.
“Time to cool off!” Jonas’s teeth flashed at me before he put the snorkel in his mouth and launched himself off the board and into the water.
As I dropped down to my butt, throwing my legs into the water on either side of the paddleboard, I watched Jonas swim beneath the surface. His paddleboard gave a jerk when he reached the end of the leash, and then dutifully followed him from above. Jonas popped up next to my right knee, clearing his snorkel and treading water.
As the water slid up my calves, it chilled me, and I groaned. I quickly put my mask and snorkel on and rolled over the side of the board.
There was nothing quite as enjoyable as slipping into the cool waters of the Pacific on a hot day. Without air conditioning, boats tended to get hot and stuffy. Add in slaving away on a boat project, and there had been many days when I’d been a frustrated, sticky mess. But a dip off the boat never ceased to wash it all away.
Jonas and I swam back in the direction of the boats. Without our fins, we weren’t moving terribly quickly or diving down below the surface. We watched clown fish dart in and out of their homes and black-tipped reef sharks swim past without even acknowledging our presence.
Eventually we hauled ourselves onto the boards again. Jonas lay on his back, one leg dangling in the water, the other propped up on my board, keeping us floating together. His hands were clasped behind his head, his eyes closed. With both of my legs in the water, I sat up, leaning back on my hands.
“Thank you,” I said. Jonas lifted his head to look at me, squinting in the sun. He smiled and patted my knee. I shimmied myself down toward the nose of the board so I could lie down too. I raised my leg underneath Jonas’s and rested my heel on his board. My thigh, heated from the warm sun, pressed against the back of his ankle. I let my other foot dangle in the water, keeping me cool.
“I always wanted a paddleboard. We almost got some as a sponsorship. We were supposed to fly back to the boat with them.”
“They are pretty great. Easy to use, and they store well. I like...” Jonas hesitated and turned toward me. Our heads had drifted apart, so he reached out and pulled me closer with his fingertips. I wound my arm under his, linking our elbows together to keep us from drifting apart. “I like the solitude it gives me. With five of us on board, the boat is always a place of action. Someone wants to play music or is working on projects or whatever. Even the sounds of the boat or the dinghy can be grating to me sometimes. But the paddleboard, it is so peaceful and freeing.”
“Yes, I think so too.” We drifted in silence for a few moments. “I wish we’d gotten a paddleboard anyway. I can’t get the dinghy down by myself; it’s too hard.”
“A paddleboard would be great for a solo sailor. Easier to handle by yourself.”
“Right.” I closed my eyes, feeling the heat of the sun baking my skin. My foot spun in lazy circles under the surface of the water.
“What made you decide to go cruising?” I asked Jonas.
“You did.” He answered so quickly and confidently, it took me a moment to process his words.
“Me?” I turned my head to look at him.
“Ja, you, and the other sailing channels out there.” He laughed to himself. “I was, like...” He searched for the words in the clouds above us. “Maybe having a breakdown?” He looked at me with a little grin and I couldn’t help but laugh, even though it wasn’t really funny.
“A breakdown? Like mentally?”
“Ja.” He nodded.
“I cannot see that at all.”
“It was a very manly breakdown,” he teased. “I called Eivind and told him to come by, and I was overly excited and maybe I had not showered in a few days and the place was a mess. But I sat him down and showed him the videos, all these sailors out doing amazing things. Your videos, especially when you were in Mexico.” He grinned sheepishly. “I may not have shown him the boatyard videos.”
“Good call. And Eivind just agreed to go with you?”
“You should ask him about it sometime. He looked at me and the videos and the mess in my place and said, ‘Okay.’”
“Wow.”
Jonas looked off into the distance, and I watched the smile on his lips fade. “I wish,” he started, “that I’d had someone else to ask. It makes me feel lonely.”
“Even with the right person to ask, it can still be lonely.”
Jonas turned to look at me and I dropped my eyes, embarrassed that I’d shared something so deeply personal.
