Ramlings, Part III

Sharon Marina Jordan @ the helm of Milagro

Edie and I were both of the opinion that I needed someone to accompany me on this trip. We went over a list all the people we knew in La Paz who might have potential for joining me. There were some candidates, such as Hector, an upholstery and canvas artist who would have loved to go and would have been great crew and travel companion. But he is a busy young entrepreneur who is  making his mark with his business, and the difficulties around him going were rather large.  Even though his wife supported the idea, in the end, Hector chose to be a grownup..  Dang his little sense of responsibility when there is so much fun to be had.

Finally Edie and I began to search the internet to see what we could find.  There are many websites that deal with the subject of vessels needing crew, or crew needing vessels.  I chose not to enter an ad for myself, but answered several ads for persons looking for crew positions.  I probably had responses from eight or ten candidates, each with a different idea of what a trip to Panama would entail.

One of the return emails was from a lady from South Africa who had intensive sailing experience and loved the idea of sailing in Mexico, and especially going to Panama.  After several emails discussing expectations and requirements, this lady began to look like the one, and we set a time to Skype.  She turned out to be charming, delightful, articulate, and genuine.  Edie thought so too. 

Sharon Marina Jordan was her name and she had just published a book; in fact she was limited as to when she could go sailing by the fact that there was a book launching scheduled for the end of March.  The name of the book is “One Woman’s Journey” and  Edie bought a copy for her Kindle;  since I recently purchased an IPAD, actually a mini pad, I was able to download a Kindle App and  read the book on my reader too.  The book was very good and I enjoyed it very much.  It seems that Sharon is big time into motorcycles, has raced motorcycles, and traveled extensively throughout southern Africa on her motorcycle.  The book chronicles these trips, one with her daughter and her daughter’s fiancé, which lasted more than 6 weeks took them through countries where wild animals, in particular, big cats could jump out of the bushes, run you down, and eat you.  They camped out in wild country, and forded rivers, and on and on.  But she also did a major trip solo, and went to wild places, and I thought where she was very vulnerable to serious dangers and severe hardships. 

Besides all that, she has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Kenya, and to the base camp of Mount McKinley in Nepal.  She owned a business and with her partner gave backpacking, mountain climbing guided tours in an area in Africa called the Wild Coast.

Back in the 1980’s Sharon and her then husband Rob left South Africa, and went to Canada where they built their own boat, taking a couple of years, then set off to sail it around the world. Incredible concept in my mind.  During their travels they spent a great deal of time on an island called Palmyra, located way out in the Pacific Ocean.  They had been there for months, living off the land, drinking coconut water, eating local plants, and fishing.  There had been a big storm with a lot of rain and Sharon was out exploring as she did regularly, when she saw something glittering in the bushes.  Upon close inspection it turned out to be a human skull with a gold tooth that caught her attention.  In addition there was a wooden box full of a human skeleton; it is thought that this box had been on the bottom of the bay until the storm dislodged it and washed it up on the beach where Sharon stumbled upon it.  It turns out that this was the first clue that had been found to a murder mystery that had taken place on Palmyra years before, and Sharon became quite famous; there were two movies made about the mystery and its solving, and Sharon was portrayed by Hollywood actresses. You’ll have to read the book to get all the details, but it was pretty exciting.

Sharon has continued with her sailing career in South Africa by racing and participating very actively in a Yacht Club.  She has also made two major cruises in China by answering ads on the internet.

You can see that this is a pretty intimidating woman, with all that experience and credentials, but after emailing several times and talking to her on Skype, I made an offer for her to join me and she accepted.

On April 2, 2013 I picked Sharon up at the Cabo San Lucas airport, and drove her back to La Paz, and introduced her to Milagro.  The adventure was ON.