For the last few decades I have enjoyed the friendship of John Neil. We both spent many enjoyable years in Friday Harbor and both still consider it home. John is an icon in the sailing and cruising world, his books are “required reading” for anyone with cruising in his future and his courses are world known. So it was with unabashed glee that i answered his radio hail while anchored off Moorea Island.
We quickly made arrangements for a rendezvous as he was anchored between us and the Ray feeding location. We stopped by Mahina Tiare and were greeted by John and his lovely wife Amanda. As feeding the Rays is one of those things with enviro repercussions, feeding wild animals is never really a good thing, Amanda choose to not join us but John decided to be “tourist” for a day.
We found the Rays instantly and jumped in to join them. I had packed a few small pieces of fish to entice them. Again it was an amazing experience
After the swim we all went back to the boat, Rita went right to the galley to do her magic and the girls went to work cleaning the boat– i took a nap–ahhh. John and Amanda along with the crew of Alobar came over for dinner. We had a fantastic time and the evening ended with the girls serenading us with Slovenian folk songs–the voices of angles.
I had imagined seeing John in the south seas for years and again my dreams had come true. John is a person i truly admire. Lucka, who does seem to read me like a book, made the comment that John is one of the people i listen to more than talk to— jeeze out of the moth of babes!!!
