Brent B
Brent B Joined: September 28th 2009
Logged in: February 2nd 2012
Logged in: February 2nd 2012
“Adventure is a path. Real adventure - self-determined, self-motivated, often risky - forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind - and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever again be black-and-white.” - Mark Jenkins
"All you have to do is contemplate a simple grain of sand, and you will see in it all the marvels of creation." -Paulo Coelho
Travel Blog Posts
Moorea Airport
I am going to wrap up my trip here, three days in one post, excluding my last day of straight travel. The remainder of my trip was meant to be spent relaxing on Moorea. I chose a pension instead of a resort. There were quite a few guest houses as well as a hostel style sleeping area; my hope was that there would be some solo travelers and I wouldn’t have to put up with a bunch of honeymooners. Motu Iti is great. I was greeted by the Madam of the Pension, and she showed me to my bungalow, which was very nice and clean. Nothing too special, no AC, the windows swung wide open and there was mosquito netting over the brightly covered bed. Opting for my swim trunks I had been there for no ... read more
Huahine
The clouds have broke and the sun is finding its way out to shine on us. After breakfast today we are going on tour of Huahine, which means vagina in Polynesian. The island vaguely has the shape, but it is probably named this due to the importance of the queens. Huahine is actually two islands, Huahine Nui and Huahine Iti, they are connected by a single bridge. Legend says that Hiro, a Polynesian god, rammed his canoe into the island to create this divide. Later the driver points out marks in the land from Hiro’s oar, and even his rocky phallus. The driver has the first mullet that I have seen since I got here, talk about absolute power. The seven of us climb in the back of a four wheel drive truck with benches fixed ... read more
Stephane, Nancy and I
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone back home. There is much to give thanks for today. I have been weighing the pros and cons of being out here over Thanksgiving. I do have to say this wins out. No offense to my family. I love them and I would never have the opportunities that I have had if it were not for my parents. They have provided support and guidance far beyond what I ever could have hoped for, but it is everything else that comes with Thanksgiving. It is not just the relaxing time that it could be. To go home and have to sleep on the couch because everyone else has kids; I feel like I have no privacy. By necessity I am the last to bed and the first to wake up, I end up ... read more
View from my room
The trip, my time on the Mata Fenua, is past the halfway point and I am already sad thinking about the end. Today the weather was not the greatest. It is hard to say the weather was bad, but it was cloudy, actually a welcome relief for my skin. (Side note: So we have many idioms where the translation does not make sense. The first one that comes to mind is “raining cats and dogs.” The French also have these, my new favorite is “Un coup de soleil.” Which means sunburn. Literal translation is hit, or punched, by the sun.) Yesterday evening ended quickly after we had finished dinner, it was a long day and we were all tired from the sun and the many activities. I was able to wake up early for sunrise, but ... read more
Sunrise
Dinner last night was a ton of fun. Ralph is very outgoing, and as I mentioned in my last post I had shared some of my vodka with him, him and his wife switched to wine with dinner. The whole combination lended itself to a very fun evening. The pasta was excellent, conversation went to Italy for much of the evening. Discussing pastas and other exports, I shared my story of how I make my own Limoncello, the Italians were impressed with this; Nutella has been talked about every morning I think, and it came up again. The stuff is amazing, an another export of Italy. Wen had taken the dingy to the island and evidently tied one on with some of his boys, (when I woke up this morning there was a plastic beer cup ... read more
Lever du Soleil
Bonjour day three, we woke up in Bora Bora. Not too bad right? Wen and Hinano told us to be up by 6:30 to go see the manta rays. There is nothing better than a sunrise for me, and I was up well before the rest of the group. The catamaran pulled anchor and set off before 6:00 am. Wen piloted the dingy to the spot where the manta ray feed on plankton. The group exited the boat, I always do my best impression of a Navy SEAL, holding my mask against my face, I drop off the boat with my camera in my other hand, feet straight up in the air. The water was cloudy and visibility was not but a few meters, but with a little effort to swim towards the bottom it didn’t ... read more
Sailing is my new things
Just finished my second day, first full day on the boat. Je suis tres tres tres rouge. What an amazing day though?! I woke up very early to watch the sunrise over Raiatea island. Some of the other passengers slowly started stirring as well. Hinano was the first, she came outside to take care of a few things with the ship and asked me if I meditate. “Non, je regard le lever du soleil.” Stephane was next to join me. The last two were the German couple who slept in well past the time the rest of us had eaten breakfast. We all kind of said that we slept okay, but it had grown too hot once the generator was shut off. But we all lived and we are in paradise. What do we really have ... read more
My set of bungalows
When I left you I was ready to leave the bungalow and do something productive. I decided that I would walk to the grocery store, have I mentioned how effing expensive everything is here? Crazy expensive. Anyway, I decided to pick up some dinner and a few other provisions, so I made the fifteen minute walk into the town. After returning to the bungalow I made myself a sandwich and drank a couple of the local beers, Hinano Tahiti, while I watched the sun set. I had a long day and was feeling like I could just go to bed, but when I looked at my watch I found that it was only seven o’clock. There was a happy hour going that changed from having a Polynesian band to having a full traditional Polynesian show. I ... read more
Morning sun in Tahiti
After a short stop over in LA to help me break up my travel I was off to Papeete, Tahiti. A little over eight hours on the plane and I was ready to be off. As the passengers filed through the glass automatic doors we were greeted by a traditional Polynesian quartet. Three were playing stringed instruments and one was clapping and dancing; all were singing. On my way through customs I was handed a small white flower, don’t ask me what kind, I have no idea. The flight arrived just after 11:00 PM local time. I was greeted by a young Polynesian woman holding a sign “BLECHA” and a lea. She placed the flowers around my neck and handed me the vouchers I would need for my cruise, I hailed a taxi and was off ... read more
A snowy morning
“The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage.” -Thucydides Four months ago I was sitting at my desk stressing about work, so I pulled up my bucket list Word doc and decided I needed to cross something off soon. I picked "Photographing the Wave." There is a very stringent set of rules about hiking the Wave though, put forth by the Bureau of Land Management, BLM. I got on their site and found this out. They have a lottery four months in advance, you put in the top three days you want and wait to see if you are picked. There are only 10 people picked for each day, currently they also give out 10 additional passes between 8:30-9am every morning. Dozens of people, evidently, line up for these passes. So I ... read more
