Shipmates

Confused, I asked the obvious, "Done what?"

"Sold the business."

"Already? Christ, Kira, what happens if we change our mind?"

"Then I guess you'll have a new deckhand. Could you live with that?"

"But, that business was your dream."

"Yeah, well, my visions changed the moment I fell in love with you. All I want now is for you to be happy, and living here, you're not. I am happy to go anywhere and do anything, just to be with you."

Before I could speak, she was in my arms and we were making love. At the rate we were making love, I figured my knob would wear off in less than twelve months.

Kira did sell her property, and the seven hundred thousand dollars was above what we expected. The hard part was telling my folks. Mum cried, as expected. She and Kira sobbed, arms wrapped together in the lounge while Dad quizzed me on how the hell we were going to do it.

It was another long night, but in the end, they were on board. I wouldn't use the words happy, but on our side.

I sold my fishing quota, got the boat sorted, got my skippers ticket, sold my Ute, my furniture and everything we couldn't fit in the Joanna B.

There were plenty of tears as we sailed out of Tarakohe for the last time. We had earned a fair amount of interest. In a small town like that, it was hard to keep anything a secret. Once I sold my fishing quota and started fitting out the boat, there was plenty of interest.

We spent a few days in Auckland, the boat getting checked out by customs, and fuelling up. That was it; we were on our way. I chose the dates based on the long term weather forecast. It did look good for the next month, but open waters, you never can tell.

Once we got out past Great Barrier, the waters got a little darker and the swell grew. Now it felt like we were on our way. NZ became little dots of land, then a cloud and then nothing. I noticed the change in Kira immediately. This was a first for her; now there was no land in sight and her eyes showed her unease. I opted to put a CD in the player and turn the volume up loud.

Her frown melted and her feet started to move; soon her body writhed and gyrated beside me. She danced, swirling and swaying, her hands in the air like an Indian dancer. I started singing along, engaged the autopilot and grabbed her hands, leading her out onto the deck. There wasn't a lot of spare space, the huge extra diesel tank took up a lot of it.

Still, we managed to dance up a storm. The weather was beautiful, warm air nothing more than a gentle wafting zephyr, the skies a light azure, no clouds. Oh my god, as the night embraced us, it was a whole different world. Without the light bleed from nearby cities, the night sky came alive. Twinkling stars everywhere, it was magic. We ate out on the deck, enjoying the show.

I guess we were both nervous at first. We took shifts manning the wheel. We left autopilot engaged, but monitored it continuously until we could enjoy some level of comfort.

Once you are that far from land, you get a real feeling of insignificance. You realise just how small a part of the world you really are.

It was the end of 35^th day at sea when I started to worry. The radio gave out the warnings. "Cyclone" was not a word I wanted to hear, but there it was. I checked our coordinates, and there was no getting away from the fact. We were right in the middle of the projected path.

Kira noticed my concerned look and she noticed as I walked around checking everything that needed to be tied down, and locking open the scuppers. "What are you doing, honey?"

There was no use sugar coating it, we couldn't hide from it. I grabbed her hands in mine, and pulled her in closer. "There's been a weather warning. We are about to sail into a cyclone."

"Oh my god, what does that mean?"

"It means our pleasant little cruise is about to get rough."

"How rough?" she spluttered nervously.

"I don't know, Kira. I have never been in one. We need to make sure everything is tied down and hatches are screwed down tight."

That was how the rest of our day went. We prepared for the worst, without knowing what the worst was going to be.

That night, the beautiful star filled skies got dark. The cloud came in and the rain started. It was a trickle at first, but that trickle grew quickly into a deluge: raindrops as big as pearls. The swell grew and soon we were surfing and falling down into deep troughs where we were surrounded by water. Mountains of water, where the tops disappeared like sky scrapers, shrouded in misty white capped clouds, the white frothy tops illuminated by the thunderous lightening burst. The sky crackled as the bolts vaporised the water around us.

Of course, the poor old Joanna B rolled and yawed. The sheer weight and power of the growing waves had the effect of tossing us around like the proverbial cork. We disappeared down in into dark canyons of water where the world vanished, the old Gardener chugging powerfully as we emerged up the other side.

Kira stood beside me at the helm as I fought to keep us nosing into the waves, trying to stop us breaching in the belly of one of the monsters. Her fingers dug like talons deep into my biceps. Her anxiety was palpable. The sheer fright on her face became etched a little deeper with every lightening flash. I felt her jump as the thunder clapped overhead.

For hours, we fought it. Anything not tightly secured was being thrown around the wheelhouse. Kira screamed as the kettle bounced off a wall, the frying pan rattling noisily. "Oh my god, Tim, we're not going to make it," she screamed. "We're going to die out here."

I made a snap decision: we were only about 25 miles away from McCauley Island. "Kira, we're going to make a run for McCauley Island. It's the southern most island in the Kermadec group."

Fear had totally taken over Kira. She looked lost. "isn't that just a big rock?"

"Yes, but we could get around the leeward side and shelter from the wind."

The wind whistled through the rigging, waves broke right over the bow as we dug into the monstrous seas. Kira collapsed, sliding down my legs as she screamed hysterically. I saw it, as well. A container swept past us, the radar squawked madly, the floating container smashing into the stern of the Joanna B the crunching scraping cries of steel grinding on steel.

"Oh my god, we're sinking." Kira screamed hysterically.

I dragged her to her feet. Staring into her eyes I screamed loudly. "Take the wheel. I need to check the damage."

"No, Tim, you can't go out there, not like that."

Placing her hands on the wheel, I yelled, "Keep us on track, Kira."

I slid open the back door on the wheel house. The wind whipped in, spray and water crashing through. I grabbed a rope and tied myself off. I slammed the door, and even with it closed I could hear Kira screeching.

I stumbled, and slid aft. I skated on my arse, grabbing the gantry as a wave smashed me like a rag doll. Luckily, there was no serious damage; the container had given us a glancing blow, most of the impact taken by the gantry and guy wires. The hull was saved.

It took a good twenty minutes to drag myself back to the wheelhouse door. I fell in, rather than walking in. The radar squealed, beeping like mad.

"It's been like that for ages," Kira screamed, "I can't make sense of it."

I knew exactly what it was. There were some reefs running south of McCauley. We were closer than I realised.

Checking the radar, I could see we were just two hundred metres away from running aground. I jumped, pushing Kira and grabbing the wheel, ripping it hard to starboard, causing us to slew off the top of a monster. Dragged down into the trough, I wrenched the wheel, trying to keep us off the reef.

Lightning lit the sky like daylight and I could see it. Shit, we were closer than I thought. I closed my eyes and pushed the throttle full on, trying to gain some steerage. Up until then we had been idling, just enough forward motion to keep us on track.

Now it was balls to the wall acceleration. We snuck by, the crashing waves roaring in our ears. I cut the motors back to idle as we cleared the reef. The radar softened and we were safe.

Kira looked petrified, her eyes vacant, her features tight. I reached for her with my arm and pulled her up under my armpit. "It's going to be okay, we are going to make it."

As she looked up at me, tears streaming down her face in disbelief, she asked, "Are you just saying that?"

"No, we are past the worst; cant you feel, the sea has calmed a little. We are coming under the shadow of McCauley."

Her breathing eased, panic slowly seeping away. "Are you sure?"

Another five or so miles, and we were well under the cover of the island. It was still rough, but manageable. I turned our nose into the gale and we sat there, idling. I moved us in closer and the big white caps eased. Grabbing the spotlight, we could make out part of the coast. It was a comforting feeling.

Kira made us a cuppa and we stared at each other. Kira gasped. "God, Tim, I thought we were going to drown. Honestly, I was so scared."

I sniggered. "You weren't the only one."

She shook her head. "No, you were magnificent. You weren't scared at all. The way you controlled everything. I can't believe it. You saved our lives."

"Kira, this is a team effort. We are in this together."

Her hand gripped my free hand, the other still gripping the wheel. "I love you, Tim, I know I have said it before, but this has opened my eyes. When I thought it was all over, I thought, at least we were together."

The dawn brought an easing in the winds, and we could make out the island properly. I eased us in a little closer so we could anchor and take a breath. Kira made us something to eat and we actually went out onto the deck. Fresh sea air... it was like a flush, all the shit blown away. I sent Kira down stairs for a kip, while I stayed on watch. She appeared four hours later and we swapped. My head hit the pillow, and my eyes closed.

When I awakened, the storm had pretty much blown over. We spent the day sorting out the Joanna B. We had lost a few items washed overboard, nothing irreplaceable, but it made us think just how close we came.

Life suddenly seemed very important.

We decided on a detour and headed for Tonga. We needed to feel the steady earth beneath our feet for a few days. Paradise, god what a place it was. I'm not sure if it was the emotions of escaping the horrors of a cyclone, but Tonga seemed idyllic. We loved it, anyway. We walked for hours, all over Nuku'alofa. It was completely different to NZ. The people didn't have much, but seemed happy and contented. It certainly was an eye opener. Kira was in her element. She shopped at the markets, and we stocked up on fruit. We spent two weeks swimming and regathering our resolve for the rest of the journey.

The rest of the trip seemed almost boring after that. The days flew by, our batteries recharged. I think it was easier because now our journey was broken up. We stopped of at Niue, then the Cook Islands. Each time we treated it like a holiday: we had no schedule, no deadlines to make, it was just relaxing. The sun was hot and the water temperate.

The tropics are so different to NZ, the evening storms, the lightening flashing off on the horizon. It was beautiful and enchanting. Kira and I found ourselves on that adventure. Adversity does build strong bonds.

We sailed into Nanuu Bay on a late October afternoon. Kira and I stared at each other. We were there. It looked unbelievably beautiful. It was busy, boats everywhere. We were directed by the harbour master to anchor and Customs would be out to inspect the boat as soon as possible.

It went smoothly, although the officials were confused about why we travelled there on a small trawler. Their inspection was thorough and intensive. I guess we were so out of the ordinary it drew that sort of attention. We got on shore late in the afternoon. We decided to splurge on a hotel room. We found a nice place on the waterfront.

It was a collective sigh from Kira and I. We both felt it; the food was nice and the drinks flowed easily. We were both beer drinkers, but on this occasion, we elected to celebrate with champagne. We were in French Polynesia, after all.

The next week flew by as we turned into tourists and just enjoyed having nothing to do. As we wandered around the city, we started to talk about what we wanted to do. It became obvious that fishing wasn't going to be it. I knew it. I didn't know the local conditions or fishing grounds well enough. As we walked around, we peered in the windows of real estate offices.

We were both shocked at the prices, so much cheaper than NZ. With the money we had, we could buy something really nice. It did raise the question, what the hell were we going to do for work?

The answer sort of emerged as we started to seriously search for somewhere to live. Kira found the place. It was right on the water, nearly three acres, with a sprawling house and a big shed workshop. I saw the look on Kira's face, she was in love. As always, she didn't say too much, but it was apparent right from the get go.

We walked on, and she went silent. Over the next couple of hours, we kept going back to just stare at the pictures in the window.

With a chuckle, I said, "Shall we go and have a look?"

She gazed back at me. "Could we?"

My answer was to swing open the door and wave her in. Everything moved quickly after that. Within the month, we had our new home. The beauty was, the bay had a good mooring for the Joanna B. No jetty or wharf, but a safe offshore mooring. The bay was protected by the reef that circled the whole area.

We spent weeks getting used to our new home. Kira had the plan, but she didn't share it immediately. She did research, hours of it. Over dinner one night, she sprung it on me. "Tim, how would you feel about eco-tourism?"

"Explain, and I'll let you know."

"We have still got nearly five hundred thousand left. What say we put some small chalets here on the property. Buy mountain bikes, and kayaks. Buy a van and set it up for people to come here, we organise kayak tours, hikes, mountain bike tours. We could even use the Joanna B as a charter boat. Set her up to take tours out fishing, or just cruising."

"Wow, you've really thought this through."

She smiled. "You could say that, yes. I think it could work."

I nodded as she opened her laptop and started to go over her plans. Two months later, we had ten chalets on the property. To keep our ecologically friendly identity, we used solar power and a couple of small wind-powered generators. The bills were mounting and we had no income, but we were working towards a successful business. We decided on rain water and compostable toilets to add to the eco-friendly nature of the stay.

I had fun buying the kayaks and mountain bikes, while Kira had her fun buying furniture and decorating. The problem was now money. We needed an income. The easy thing was for me to get a job while Kira worked on the project. The job was easy. I got a deckhand job on a local fishing boat. Okay, it wasn't going to make us rich, but it did pay for our food and utilities. It also gave me an insight into local fishing grounds.

Kira started running ads on the internet and guests slowly started rolling in. Renee, the skipper of the boat I worked on was a pretty nice guy. He and his wife Michelle became firm friends, and they introduced us to other local business owners.

Our first real guests started rolling through the place. It was a hit, almost immediately. We didn't have the tour aspect running, but there was a market for people who wanted to stay in something other than a resort. I kept working on the fishing boat, just to keep cash flow. It was about a month later when I got a kick in the guts. I came back from a short three-day fishing trip to find a small party of guests staying. It came when I walked in and found Kira and a rather beefy guy sitting in our living room. There was laughter and chit-chat. Kira didn't even see me walk in. Usually she greeted me with a big kiss and a cuddle. This time she just looked up, and smiled.

"Tim, come in. I want you to meet Dirk."

I didn't like him, he didn't stand to shake my hand, he just casually said. "Hey man, nice to meet you."

I shook his hand, it was casual, off-hand. He went right back to talking to Kira. I had to ask. "So, what's going on?"

Kira looked up, "Oh, sorry, Dirk and I know each other, we used to be involved with Greenpeace together. We spent some time protesting."

"Oh, I see. So why are you here, Dirk?" I asked.

He looked up, irked. "I now work for Lonely planet. I'm here as a guest doing a review."

"How long are you here for?" I didn't like him one little bit. No way, no how.

"Oh, a few days."

"When did you arrive?" I quizzed.

Kira gave me a nasty glare. "Tim, stop it. Why the inquisition?"

I shrugged. "Just trying to find out what's going on."

She went back to talking to Dirk before turning back. "Phew, you smell, Tim. You smell like fish, you need a shower."

No kiss on offer today. I wandered off for my shower and change of clothes. When I emerged I watched as Kira escorted Dirk around the property explaining the windmills and solar power systems, then down to the waterfront where she pointed out the Joanna B.

I made a cup of tea as I watched them. He rested his hand on her lower waist as he followed her. She giggled at whatever he said. I felt myself getting very miffed.

Eventually she came back inside, and he went off to his chalet. This time she walked in and gave me a big kiss. "How was the trip?" She asked.

"Yeah, okay. We got back a day early, freezer full."

"Wow, good for you."

"So how long is dim-wit here to stay," I grumbled.

"I beg your pardon?" she asked huffily.

"Your mate, Dirk the dick. How long is he here for?"

"Tim, that's uncalled for. What has Dirk ever done to you?"

I shrugged. "Nothing, but I don't like him. He's sleazy."

Shocked, she gasped. "What do you mean sleazy? You don't even know him."

"I saw the way he held you while you walked around. I take it you've slept with him?"

Her face dropped, any hint of warmth gone, replaced by a deep scowl. "Are you jealous?"

Again I shrugged, trying to keep it casual. "I suppose I am."

"Tim, nothing happened, he's an old friend. Yes we had a relationship for a short time, but that was years ago. I had only just joined Greenpeace and Dirk was a leader."

"You mean you lived together?"

Her face tightened guiltily. "Yes, but we broke up years ago. We are just friends."

I nodded, trying my hardest to keep it civil. "Does he live here?"

"No, he lives in America. He is here on assignment. He is doing some reviews."

I wandered outside to drink my tea. She followed me. "Tim, why are you being like this?"

"Okay, Kira, I come home from a trip to find Dirk in my home. I don't get a kiss, or anything. In fact you hardly even acknowledged my presence. For the first time since we've been together, you tell me I stink."

Her face quivered, her bottom lip trembling uncontrollably. "Oh my god, I'm sorry, Tim. I didn't even know I did that. I guess it was just nice to meet somebody I knew."

"I understand all that, Kira, but I saw something in him. I don't like it. He is a sleazy prick."

"Tim, I think you're letting your jealousy get the better of you. He is a very nice guy. This is my fault. I shouldn't have been so mean to you."

"Yeah, well I would prefer if you stayed out of his way."

She sat on the swing seat beside me as I sipped my tea. "Sorry, but I invited him for dinner tonight. Sorry, I didn't know how you felt."

That bit of news didn't please me. "Don't worry, Tim. I'll do the cooking. He will be gone in a couple of days."