Advice From Skipper James:

Darwin, Australia, Sept. 2

Before I could even get two feet on the yacht, skipper James was handing me a beer.

"Great. Glad you found us," come on board. "Here's a beer."

And I'd delayed my arrival by a few minutes to shave. I'd even considered getting my haircut so as to not insult the guy who's offered to let me sail with him from Australia to South Africa.What was I thinking? James and his other crew, Chris, are the two most chill people I've met since I left California more than two years ago. It's hard to believe that they both lived in the U.K. Their tans make them look like they're half-way around a world sailing tour. That's because they are.

As we chatted and got to know each other a bit, James talked about his boat, 40-foot Cleone, named after a Greek goddess of the oceans. He talked about his travels and sailing and diving and the other crew and boats on the world tour. So far so good. I'm psyched.

We have four days before we leave for Bali and I thought I'd go hit a beach or try to find a dive shop to get in some scuba diving before we leave. James gave me the best advice so far that I've gotten on my travels:

"Don't go swimming. Nobody swims or dives in Bali. You'll get eaten by crocodiles," he said.

I'll have to wait a week or so for Bali. The diving is supposed to be great there. We leave tomorrow morning. I need to be up in 7 hours.

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