Deck and departure

When I started to work on the deck, I thought... "humm it's going to take me two weeks and I will have a lot of time to work on other projects..." well it didn't really worked like that.... as always on a boat you have to multiply everything by 3, time, money and fun ;-)


I spent a month and a half in PA and had found a second hometown. All the people I met were welcoming and very nice to me. About 20000 souls live there, landscape is amazing, islands, mountains, water, sea, rivers, beaches, forest... all I needed to be happy with Pangea in USA.


I finished working on the deck at the end of august, with a plane ticket as a time limit. My saving were going very low and I had to go to Europe to work and fly to use my world trip ticket.


Eric (www.modernyachtjoinery.com)  taught me how to prepare the deck for caulking and helped me finish the work. It was great working with him. He is passionate about wood, it inspired me everyday, he became a friend to me. I enjoyed cooking lunch everyday for us. Friends were giving me salmon, shrimp & vegetables. Kurt and Ava, friends I met thru Martin, became good friends, we had a special connection. 


I went sailing with Rob for a full moon bay cruise, full moon kayak adventure with Kurt in Fresh Water bay, cook for Mickael and his crew at his place, went to Neah Bay to see a canoe race with Eric, went to Crescent lake with Paul, Sophie and her family visited me on Pangea, sailed on Pangea with Kurt and Ava for the last night in PA in the bay.... 


I had beautiful days in PA and felt like I could live there for a while. Sun was shinning everyday.


Pangea stays in PA under the good care of my friends. I could leave with a rested mind.


Paul gave me a ride to the airport in Seattle. I kind of adopted him as my american uncle...


At the airport, Stephen, one of my best friend, came to see me. I was so happy. 


I met Joel at the airport, an amazing French man, 64 years old, who's traveling around the world on his bike.  Someday in France, when he was riding his bicycle, someone run him over and he was left on the road, dead. By chance, a fireman found him and saved his life. He spent days in coma and had some injuries and became invalid. He couldn't work on his vineyard anymore, sold everything and decided to bike all the way to the north tip of Norway. This trip inspired him to go for a world trip and he decided to leave for two years with his tricycle. I spend the night at the airport waiting for our airplane with him. He inspired me to the most, touched my heart. He is a hero to me, never gave up on his dreams even though everybody was telling him he shouldn't go. I cried seeing him leaving walking with his cane, thinking I could never give up on my dreams...


On the plane, I met Gina from Los Angeles. She is Mexican and she owns a travel agency in USA. She dreams of sailing... I told her about my sail boat and she said she would love to sail with me.... That would be a really cool experience !!! I invited her to come to PA next year and sail with me to the island... 


I arrived in Miami around 6am on the 31st of august. No seat available for Paris until the 5th of september. All flight were full because of the hurricane. I took a bus ticket to Melbourne and visit Noah's parents. I spend almost a week there, enjoying Elaine company, the beach, warm water, playing in the waves and my visit with Ran, Noah's dad. A great break from Pangea before Paris. Smells and weather reminding me of Moorea, warm sand under my skin, sun and wind putting me to sleep... dancing with the waves, body surfing with millions of fishes, making waves of fish... it was an amazing experience. 


I drove the bus back to Miami on the 5th to catch my plane to Paris... sun left her golden color on my skin and I was re-energized...


I met Madeleine on the plane, she is the director of Lalique shop in Beverly Hills. I told her about my adventure and we became friends. She was really nice and I was happy to sit by her.


I hug her goodbye and run out  of the plane to catch the RER (train to Paris). The movie I worked for last year in French Polynesia, "L'ordre et la Morale"(the Rebellion) was on show avant-premiere at the Lido, the film maker and main actor, Mathieu Kassovitz, invited me. I had to be there in one hour. I arrived an hour late but made it inside even though I had all my bags. The guys at the entrance and the director were nice enough to let me in and watch my bags. The movie was amazing, every memories came back to me, so much work and heart put into it... It is strong and the pictures were striking, I cried it was emotional and deep... I'm proud to have work on it.  I didn't know who I was going to meet there and everybody I saw was a great surprise. 


I took the metro to my uncle and aunty. They live in Neuilly-sur-Seine. Walking back there was once again a weird feeling of flashback. The last time I was here, I was with Noah, caring 120 kg of luggage, surfboards and loads of camera and gear. It was snowy and cold.... 


The next day I met my friends Marco and Sylvie, stayed at their place and felt like being with family. 
I met friends all week long... Traveling by metro started to be heavy on my psycho and I decided to cross town by bike on saturday to visit Thibault, whom I haven't seen since my departure for Mexico. I met his little family, the cute Amaya and the beautiful Marie-Claire...


Being in Paris this time alone is a different experience from the previous visit I did.


I'm working tomorrow with Marco and Sylvie until wednesday....


Hope all is well for all of you and your family...


A bientot


Bisou


Poema