Since childhood I had heard stories, seen photos and read books about voyages on the seas.  Tales of the South Pacific came from my father who was stationed during WWII at little known islands of Munda, Rendova and Ondongo.

    My parents had a set of books by Irving and Electra Johnson on the sailing trips of the Schooner Yankee.  The ninety foot Yankee sailed around the world in 1930's with a paying crew for a year long voyage. The Yankee trail blazed the seas and stopped at remote corners of the world.  Islands of Pitcairn, Galapagos and Easter had been visited, previous to their landfalls only a handful of vessels had seen these islands.

    How I wished I was with Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl when he recreated early man's voyage across the Pacific in the raft named Kon-Tiki in 1947.  I had his book, seen his Oscar documentary and had the pleasure of attending a lecture he gave in the 90's in Washington D.C.

    Undersea's adventures of Jacques-Yves Cousteau's , TV series Sea Hunt and National Geographic Society further hooked me.  By the time I had graduated college I had a minor in marine biology as well as had read a multitude of works on sailing, racing, explorations, shipwrecks/survivals, cruising logs and seafood cookbooks.

    Reading of sailing and explorations directly benefited my 12 years of living aboard boats making my cruising safer and enjoyable.  A boater/sailor will make mistakes and get into trouble.  How you react and extract yourself from problems determines how good a sailor you are.   I have been in some tough scrapes, hurricane Grace, lightning strikes and a few sharks encounters.  But I always knew what to do. 

    Over the years I had been in the water with sharks while diving for my dinner.  Twice I had encountered very aggressive sharks. But each time the calm voice of Mike Nelson told me what I should do.  Thanks you Sea Hunt!