While waiting for word from the French embassy in California about a visa extension that will allow me ample time to go back and fix Swell in Tahiti, the Patagonia crew invited me to fly down and join them on a surf trip...
So, I bounced from a wedding in Hawaii (congrats Jon and Nicole!), to working on a book in Portland (where I also became an avid bike commuter, jazzerciser, and peed-in wetsuit model), to the exciting premieres of the "Dear and Yonder" surf film in Encinitas and Ventura, to an outbound adventure for south swell on the Central Coast with Blakeney and Bennett, to a night of music and friends and photos from my voyage at the Brewhouse in Santa Barbara (thank you Tucker!), to a week of family boating fun in Catalina for my dad's birthday (which, also included two clogged toilets, two disagreeable outboards, and a stubborn packing gland). Then, straight into a frenzy of packing, a rode trip to LAX with Anna, and then, 26 hours later, a little island off Bali where I found my friend Katie, a few lovely rights, and took a crash course in Balinese and motorbike riding. We hugged goodbye yesterday after she piggy-backed me to the ferry boat to keep the fresh reef scratches on my foot dry, and I was off to get a quick taste of Kuta before jumping a domestic flight to Jakarta where I've found an internet connection in the Jakarta Airport Hotel that's working long enough for me to type this. The boys just arrived...not sure what I'm doing here with a crew like Gerry Lopez, Wayne Lynch, and the Malloys, but they probably just wanted someone who can tie knots and wax boards? We're off on a boat trip tomorrow where my toughest decisions will be which board to ride and bikini to wear! No dishes, anchor pulling, or night watches, huh? I won't know what to do with myself.
I miss Swell dearly, but she knows I'll be back soon to fix her, I'm just doing a bit of reconnaissance farther west so as best to choose our route through this region a few seasons from now.
Liz Clark sails solo around the world on her 40-foot sailboat, Swell, in search of people, places and waves. She sends us travel updates, stories and photos several times a week.
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