Chapter 7: Cruising Around the World Part 1

June 30, 2025

Hawaii, 6/1/25.


Part 1

The Hawaiian Islands cannot be separated from the legends and beliefs of the original people who came to the islands from Polynesia, around 1,600 years ago. Even in the tourist areas, you feel the insistence that these not be forgotten. The descendants of the native Hawaiians are a tough and resilient people who, like the descendants of the Seminole Indian tribes in Florida or other survivors of genocide or religious and economic oppression, they not only survive but thrive.

     Their legends are not just stories. They are a deep understanding of our place in Nature. They have survived more than a thousand years because they give comfort and understanding but also warnings. They even resisted the pressures of other cultures and religions. They simmer beneath the surface of church ritual and modern government.

     Why? Because they speak about perspective, and reality. 

     Peli, goddess of volcanoes, is more powerful than you are, get out of her way; Mamala (shark woman) is a shape shifter or “kapua”, you must always be alert to the unpredictable ways of the sea. Papa (the female goddess) rescues her male consort, Wakea, because she is intuitive and can vanish them both into a breadfruit tree. Don't underestimate the powers of women. Puniaki, son in law of chief Kou, has a magic fishing hook. He can fill a canoe with fish anytime he wants. The fish actually jumped into his canoe! No normal fisherman has a magic hook. Keep your expectations reasonable, you will be happier that way. 

     Underlying these and other legends is the thread of respect for Nature.

The native Hawaiians came to the conclusion that whatever they did to encourage the health of the natural environment was beneficial to them and their survival. 

“E ola no mai ka uka a ke Kai!”

Let there be life from the uplands to the sea!

A cliff overlooking the ocean with waves crashing against it

     They developed sophisticated ways of apportioning, utilizing and caring for natural resources. The islands were divided into “moku”(districts) and again into “ahupua’a”, (areas that ran from the mountains to the ocean.) Each ahupua’a had many of the resources needed to sustain a community; fresh water, fishing, fertile land and materials for making shelter. This partitioning organized the way people lived, worked and shared resources. The “pono”,(well-being of the people), was the foremost concern of the chief.

     Honolulu Harbor was once a complex ecosystem that sustained huge native populations, (daily gathering was done for edible creatures and plants in the shallows, fish were abundant near the shores) since the 1800’s these places have been destroyed with dredging and filling. Natural wealth steadily declined as other kinds of wealth increased through commerce. The market/profit cycle became dominant and its good side and dark side that we live with began developing.

A black and white drawing of a man with a beard

     What is Hawaii today? What has Hawaii become? We take a walk to a Walmart for supplies.Turns out it is several miles from the port. Lots of opportunity to observe. It is immediately clear that native Hawaiians have not been eliminated from the Islands. And the Hawaiian language is very much alive. Everywhere you go you hear it spoken. The remarkable variety of nationalities on the islands is a modern testimony to humanity's ability to get along. Japanese, Korean, Spanish, African, European, (just to name a few), form a huge “melting pot”.   

But there is something wrong, something not balanced. 

     Hawaii is the most expensive state in the US to live, and has the most unequal economy. The evidence of this is everywhere. Homeless people of all ages, men and women finding shelter in doorways of abandoned buildings and makeshift tents of plastic and blankets. A fine mist has begun and it becomes rain as we walk. The unsheltered try to keep their belongings dry, under tarps or in covered shopping carts, which they stand next to, miserably. An old woman who has made a tent with plastic over an umbrella and blankets for the floor, also covered with plastic, frantically she wipes water away with her hands from her sleeping enclosure. She wanders distressed around her nest, unable to keep the rain from soaking her belongings. We passed several dozen people living rough in Oahu in the two mile walk to Walmart. These were the most vulnerable and least able to find better shelter. They were just the tip of a much larger ‘iceberg’ of homeless people in Hawaii as we found when we visited the other islands.

A view of a volcano with smoke coming out of it.

Chapter 10: Alaska Part 2

August 12, 2025
Alaska feels like a different country; not like one of the United States. Maybe its vastness and extreme climate have created this unique presence. People who adapt themselves to living half the year in darkness and half in light, in a lot of cold and rain with magnificent beauty all around, this has an impact. The unique environment of Alaska transforms people.  The Tlingit were one of the aboriginal Alaskan groups. They crossed the Bering Strait from Asia, approximately 9,000 years ago. There are also some theories about individuals island-hopping from Polynesia. Both scenarios may be true. Nonetheless, they formed a highly complex social, legal and political structure along with extraordinary creative arts and oral culture. Before European contact their population reached approximately 20,000. Status was based on birth and wealth, creating a hierarchical social structure. There was a noble class (determined through hereditary) followed by medicine men and women, warriors, traders, commoners and slaves. The Clan House was home to three resident classes; nobles, commoners and slaves. The construction of the Clan House was a sacred event involving rituals for the dead. The two ritual groups (moiety) were Raven or Eagle/Wolf, and they were expected to marry outside their group (exogamous). Tlingit followed a matrilineal clan system. Children inherited the clan side of the mother. All rights were through the mother; these include fishing, hunting and gathering places, the use of certain clan symbols, totem designs, house decoration and ceremonial clothing designs. The Clan had spiritual, psychological and medical protection from a medicine man or woman. They were also known to control weather, bring luck, predict the future, expose witches and speak to the dead. They did not cut their hair in order to keep their power strong. Their power would pass to a younger relative when they died.

Chapter 10: Alaska Part 1

August 4, 2025
Some context for this trip and log. The ship we are traveling on is the Villa Vie Odyssey. It is a small cruise ship with about 300 passengers and 300 crew. We have bought a cabin aboard. My plan is to document one circumnavigation. This will take about 3 and ½ years. So far this has been a record from when we boarded in Barbados, going through the Panama Canal, up the western coast of Mexico over to Hawaii then up the western coast of the United States to Alaska.The following is an account of Alaska. After this we will travel to Japan. Thank you for your interest. I was unprepared for the profound beauty of Alaska. The more you see, the more it astounds. How is it possible that people could hunt seals, foxes, wolves and beavers to extinction, log evergreen trees to bare brown ground - as if a massive electric shaver was used to mow the mountains- that grow back in patches and trails made for giants? Vastness is not endless. The harsh environment, remoteness and beauty did not protect them. Still, how was it possible? Only people caught in a frenzy of commerce could do this. The same frenzy that brought thousands of men with dreams of making fortunes in gold to remote outlands of Alaska. They became insane devourers. Luminous white water rushes from a cleft at the top of the mountain sliding in and out of evergreens to the river below, pinched along the way by grey rocks. This was the land of the Tlingit for at least 10,000 years. Theirs was a highly developed social structure equal to those found in Europe. Spanish contact in 1775 dropped their population by about 80 percent, with typhoid fever, scarlet fever, and measles. The Russian fur trade changed their lives even more. It began after Vitus Bering’s 1747 expedition and “discovery” of the Bering strait. Sea otter pelts were the incentive. Other fur was also sought but sea otter pelts were the most coveted. It is the warmest fur. It has the most hairs per square inch of any animal fur. An adaptation that allows it to live in the extreme environments of Alaska. Unfortunately for the otters its fur can be made into the warmest of coats. By 1799 the fur trade was thriving. It involved the forced labor of the indigenous people. Their local knowledge of the animals and their hunting expertise were essential. This industry brought significant change to the native communities, disease, dependence on trade goods and inter-tribal conflict. Russia traded furs to China and Europe. When competition for pelts and political factors involving Russia affected their ability to continue the trade, Russia sold Alaska to the United States. The US had been pressing westward and getting involved with trapping, fishing, mining, logging and homesteading. In 1867 the US bought Alaska from Russia for 7.2 million dollars. In 1788 the US entered the maritime fur trade; sea otter furs for Oriental goods. By 1801 the US controlled the fur trade at its height and Boston was at its center. When a major discovery of gold was made in 1896, Alaska became the gateway to the Klondike gold fields. Purple mountains are passing by my window as we glide to our next port. I can watch this ‘movie’ before I go to sleep. It stays light till around midnight and never becomes completely dark. The sun is up at 5:00. Locals describe the endless darkness of the winter months as depressing. “What do you do?” “Watch movies, watch TV.” Native people used the long dark Winters to create. The memories of summer beauty and important events, documented in beadwork, carved figures of animals from walrus bone, charms for hats and masks, hand made fur garments beautifully beaded with flowers, leaves and animals, scrimshaw pipes of bone, a crown for a baby beaded and decorated with carvings, two white pom poms hanging from thin leather strips on either side. The intensive summer hunting over, food dried and stored. Time for handwork, music, story telling and conversation. While the mountains and sky silently hover near in all their variety and beauty.

Chapter 9: Cruising Around the World

July 21, 2025
Seattle, Victoria & Vancouver Seattle, Washington US, June 25, 2025

Chapter 8: Cruising Around the World

July 14, 2025
The United States, chapter 8 San Diego, June,17 - San Francisco, June, 22

Chapter 7: Cruising Around the World Part 2

July 7, 2025
Hawaii, 6/1/25. CAW, ch 7 Part 2

The Parallel Currency

June 29, 2025
The Parallel Currency, June, 2025

Human Rights

June 23, 2025
The right to not starve, the right to have shelter, the right to be treated for curable illness, the right to not be ignorant. Humanity, over many years of civilization, has created solutions for all these and can provide them, Worldwide. Freedom of speech and freedom of religion (which is essentially freedom of speech) are not enough. To make the “pursuit of happiness” a real possibility a person must have the other four human rights, food, shelter, healthcare and education. It does not take a “rocket scientist” to figure out how to pay for and distribute these rights. We can use our representation for value, money, any way we wish. The way money flows now is the classic pattern that we all are born into and must use. Basically it is capitalism. The market is moved by profit. Only peripherally does preservation of humanity or limited natural resources come into view. Normally there has to be an emergency for this to happen; a war, weather disasters or a pandemic. When the workforce is reduced or resources made scarce. This is not a sustainable situation. It can last for a long time, as it has, but it is always in the slow process of destroying itself. Like the nightmare cliff dropping away behind you as you run. We have the solution in our hands: a Parallel Currency. It will not make everyone honest, kind or generous. But it will keep people from starvation, illness, ignorance and homelessness. Humanity will no longer be enslaved by the more destructive side effects of capitalism. A Parallel Currency is used just for the four basic needs. It is available to everyone from birth until death. When the Parallel Currency arrives at banks it is destroyed so it cannot behave like regular currency and be invested or saved; which can cause inflation. Parallel Currency is only used to provide education, food, shelter and medical care, it is a closed loop. Other currencies will continue to function as usual. Individuals can make as much money as they wish for whatever they wish. The difference is that they will not be depriving other people of their ability to survive. We have the communication, organizing and distribution tool already; the Internet. Locating, assembling, and distributing all the parts necessary for this objective is possible with our information technology. With the development of AI organizIng the Parallel Currency is even more easily done. We will start by paying for these rights but as time passes it will become obvious that this is advantageous to everyone and to our planet's health and like freedom of speech, we won't have to pay for it anymore, with money or blood. Susan Caumont June, 2025

Chapter 6: Cruising Around the World

June 9, 2025
At Sea

Chapter 5: Cruising Around the World

June 2, 2025
Mexico, 5/5/25.

Making up for the sins of Capitalism

May 27, 2025
“It is soulless, exploitive, inequitable, unstable and destructive, yet also all- conquering and overwhelming.” Capitalism and its Critics: A History from the Industrial Revolution to AI By John Cassidy This is one of the best descriptions of Capitalism I have read recently. The only thing it leaves out is that Capitalism regularly destroys itself and has to be rescued with huge infusions of human labor (money). But Capitalism is so appealing to humans that it is allowed to continually transform and conform to new demands and circumstances, even though it is inherently unstable and destructive. Like the charming self destructive uncle who is so entertaining with his stories and wild money making schemes, no one wants him to stop. It is so much fun! For a few people. And all it takes is a few people to keep Capitalism going, approximately ten percent of the World population, the richest ten percent. That Capitalism has lasted and spread is testimony to its ability to keep adapting and improving on its main strengths: soullessness and exploitation. As a species we have become, over approximately 500 years, completely adapted to Capitalism. No matter what it distorts, destroys or lays waste to, it has captured our imaginations like a religion. We won't be saying goodbye to it anytime soon. But there is an antidote. We can make up for some of its most destructive symptoms with a Parallel Currency that is used only for basic human needs, food, shelter, education and healthcare, Worldwide. Some countries are already trying to do this with their tax structures and laws but a Parallel Currency would do this without taxation or inflation. It is a separate currency that can only be used to provide basic needs and is destroyed when it reaches a bank; it will not create inflation. It also will not inhibit the positive capabilities of existing currencies. They will continue to function as they usually do. The Parallel Currency is a closed loop created for the dignified survival of humanity. Freedom of speech, freedom of religion are not enough. A government by the people and for the people must also guarantee freedom from starvation, ignorance and curable illness, all things as a human species, over thousands of years, we have developed remedies.
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