Green in the Blue

Have you ever wanted something so badly that you never thought would happen? Please don’t pass it off as pipe dreaming… Read the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho… If you want something badly enough, all the universe will help you achieve it.

I read this article in the Georgia Straight eons ago (apparently an eon is 7 years) and it broke my heart. The belly buttons of the Pacific are slowly being immersed. Whole countries will be underwater within 50 years. We have already seen environmental refugees with sea levels rising in the Bay of Bengal. This is happening in warm climates and in the case of Tuvalu, Tokelau and the Tuamotos, they are drowning because of sea level rising due to global warming, ocean expansion with the heat and glacier melt. I’m as guilty as the next SUV driving Canadian, enjoying the comforts of an abundant earth. But Tuvaluans certainly don’t have a large ecological footprint. There is no way that they are the cause of their own demise. If you’ve ever checked out a website for a television show that ends in .tv you can thank the Tuvaluans for selling their website country code to try and make some dollars to prepare for emigration to Fiji or New Zealand.

Selfishly, I wanted to see these bellybuttons (coral atolls) before they were under water. I have 50 years. But, as I have said many times to people I share this dream with, there is no way that I can fly there. That is exactly what is causing the South Pacific to disappear, coral atoll after coral atoll. I have to travel with a renewable resource to get there. Sailing is the solution!! Of course, all I need is boat and to know how to sail. Hmm…this could be a problem…

In the meantime, I kept busy. Got myself a college degree, travelled some of Asia, enhanced my attitude on life, made the best friends, found inner peace, danced a LOT, and became the Kelly most of you know today.

Then I read this:

If anyone is interested in crossing the Pacific by sail from Mexico>French Polynesia, please contact me. Departing the end of April. About 30 days of sailing. Chance to sail back to the US via Hawaii for extended trip. No cost involved except your own food/flights. Drop me a line for more details.