Page 15 of The Sailor in Polynesia
“Yes! And you’ve only got two hands too. That’s another disadvantage.”
“True,” I agreed. I looked over at Lila. “Ready to go again?”
She nodded. We let go and dropped to the bottom.
When Lila got too tired to keep diving, we exchanged our weight belts for the snorkels and took off for the reef. We lazily kicked our way around the coral heads, looking at the colorful fish and other wildlife that lived underwater.
I made sure to point out things to Lila that I thought were interesting; she squealed when I showed her the Christmas tree worms, with their two brightly colored tree-shaped antennae waving around and catching food. When I swept my hand in front of them, they sucked their antennae in and hid. We saw them in so many colors: red, pink, blue, purple, and yellow.
Lila yelped when I pointed out a shark, a small black-tipped reef shark lazily swimming around. He gave us a wide berth and swam off into the distance behind us.
We snorkeled till my butt felt toasty from too much sun, but I was loath to leave. Having a friend to experience the reef with was so much more fun, and seeing everything through Lila’s eyes was invigorating, reminding me that this cruising life was worth doing.
Six
Back on the boat, I offered Lila a freshwater shower and a drink. She had pulled herself up into the dinghy laughing and giddy from the snorkeling, and her mood was infectious.
We both rinsed off and I changed clothes while Lila stretched out on the bow to sunbathe herself dry.
“What do you want to drink?” I called out the open hatch.
“Gin and tonic?”
“Ah, well, I don’t have any ice. Or cold tonic water. Or gin.”
Lila’s head poked through the hatch and she looked at me. “Whatdoyou have?”
“Sorry, I’m not much of the drunken sailor type.” I counted off my fingers. “Beer. Beer. Maybe some box wine? And for sure, I definitely have a thing of beer.”
She grinned. “Beer it is.”
I slipped two cold beers into koozies and brought them to the cockpit, where Lila met me. “Is it okay to sit on the cushions, even though I’m all wet?”
“Go for it.” She flopped against the backrest and stretched her legs out.
“Cheers for the beer.” She tipped the can to her lips and took a swig.
“How are you liking cruising?” I asked her.
She smiled at me. “Well, if you don’t count the passage across the Pacific, it has been great.”
I laughed. “So I guess you’d like the sailing lifestyle better without the sailing bits, huh?”
She threw her head back against the cushions. “It wasso long. And there was a buildup of things and tensions, and at the end you feel all confused and tangled up.” She gestured wildly with her hand.
“I know the feeling. I like sailing, but even I was glad to have that passage be done with.”
“You’re like Jonas. He likes sailing too. Like, the skill of it and technical stuff. Not to say that he doesn’t enjoy the island hopping, but...”
I nodded. “Yeah, that’s how I feel. I like to be out at sea. It’s calming.”
“Sure, when everything goes well and you know you’ll see land in a day or two.”
“Okay, so you like the island hopping best. Got it.” I smiled at her. “Tell me about your time in the Marquesas.”
She ticked off the islands. “Fatu Hiva, Hiva Oa, Tahuatu, Nuku Hiva...” She told me about searching for tikis and grating coconut and eatingpoisson cruat the cafés.
We talked about each island, her with the joy of new discoveries and me with nostalgia. “Did you... ?” and “We loved...” and “I want to go back.”
