London, England

Well, I decided to jump ship and flew home from Pago Pago. After all the problems with the boat and the screwy motion of the sea making my stomach turn over, I’m sorry to say that I could not face another 6 weeks or so of it. Along with all the stress, I was having nightmares about what would happen next, so I’m back home in London.

It took two days to fly back via Honolulu and JFK – lots of waiting around in the airports between flights.  It’s been quite difficult adjusting to the change in time zones. It took 5 months to go through 10 zones and 48 hours to come back!

I’m ploughing through the masses of correspondence, both paper and email, which has accumulated over the 5 months while I was away.

The owner flew out to join the Captain on the boat and they are now under way on the final leg of the journey to Oz, some 4000 miles. Will let you know the outcome of the trip as it unfolds.

Update:

I’ve been researching those silvery things which were attached to the dolphins we saw and find that they are called Remoras, also known as Shark Suckers. They attach themselves with suckers and must be irritating to the poor hosts, and, I understand, can leave lesions when they finally let go.