Chapter 8: Cruising Around the World

July 14, 2025

The United States, chapter 8

San Diego, June,17 - San Francisco, June, 22

A helicopter is flying over an american flag in the sky.

     We have just left San Diego. We are plowing through 12 foot swells to San Francisco. Rocking a bit. “Hobby horsing”, Jeff calls it. Great for sleeping. You plunge then rise, dream of riding the sea on a golden sea horse, its body streaming silver water past you, your arms around its neck, (which feels surprisingly soft, not scaley), it whinnys with joy, you are laughing, we cannot stop, it could make you insane. A seagull rises from nowhere, floating in the air. I am back inside the ship.

     It is getting crowded in the observatory. Many passengers have come to watch our approach to the harbor of San Francisco. The Golden Gate Bridge is just visible, a smokey grey web between the coastal hills. People are talking, the quiet is gone. Approaching land from the sea holds every possibility, but only until you set foot there. Then memories, old experiences and habits kick in. This is where you were born, where you have lived most of your life. The water places and their mysteries are receding, pushed aside. Some passengers are reluctant to see it go, others are talking about going sightseeing, renting a sea plane or a tour. We will be under the bridge soon. There is mystery and sadness there. That is where trolls live and some people will take shelter, their possessions beside them as they sleep. “Are you going off the ship?” someone asks. “ No, I have seen it.” The sharp white tooth of a raised sail is visible ahead of us as we approach the bridge. It looks like the little sailboat will go under alongside us. Good sailing weather, 15 knots from the east. There is plenty of room under the bridge and many more sailboats on the other side. Our Captain announces “the famous Alcatraz”, to the starboard. It is the weekend, people are at play, many sailboats and windsurfers out, dodging the ferries, fishing boats and cruise ships. This is a huge harbor, a massive city, not as self conscious and on display as San Diego. This city has complexity, racial mixing, potential for change, more like NYC and other World cities.

     We have left San Francisco and continue up the west coast. The sea is calm and the captain is proceeding very slowly as we pass through a huge pod of whales, maybe 30 of them. This has been going on for about two hours, the sightings of clusters and singletons over several miles. Sometimes the dark back and neat dorsal triangle appear, then maybe a tail strokes the sky gently, gracefully, or a hint of dark just below the surface precedes spouting and more spectacularly, rolling, which exposes the white sidewall of an orca. One passenger screams with delight. This is the first whale she has ever seen. Later I read that orca are considered part of the dolphin family and that all dolphins are whales but not all whales are dolphins.

     Now that we have been visiting the United States I think about what I want to say about it. I am a US citizen. As I think, rain droplets slide down the window here in the observatory, like tears. I have been thinking about skipping the log about the US because I know the US too well, I don't think I can have perspective. Like a fantastical creature that is beautiful, friendly and naive, at the same time ruthless, my country flings jewels and knives with frightening, seductive abandon. Causing fleeting joy and deep, bleeding, persistent wounds. The result of more than 200 years toward the economic evolution of elite benefits in our country. The uneasy truce struck between the immigrant landowners and the immigrants without land, the Bill of Rights, (cleverly written to be vague, there were lawyers back then too), has been torn and pummeled to the point where it has become a quaint anecdote of history. How could they be so naive? Did they really think power and privilege would give or give up? The King didn't hand over thousands of acres of the “New World” to his friends for nothing. He just couldn't imagine they would want more, want it all. He thought he had bought them, bought their loyalty. Well, we know what happened to the English Empire. Now they are confined to their original Island, proud, overconfident, "brilliant", nervous and dangerous, their government making bad decisions, their population recovering between them. Meanwhile we the people cry, rage, cope, exalt, create and die. The results of that rhythm are unpredictable, as King George found out. Like the rhythm of the leviathan rising to the surface breaching then falling back. 

     Have we reached the end of this pattern? 

     I want to see humanity do what evolution has intended for it to do. Reach for our potential. Use our huge brain capacity to design abundance, solve scarcity, solve starvation, homelessness, disease, ignorance.

     Or at least, try.

A sailboat is under a bridge over a body of water.

Chapter 11: Japan Part 1

August 25, 2025
We dock at Hakodate, Japan on the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That stands as a singular horror among the many horrors humans commit on each other and Nature and continue to commit to this day. There is no apology possible and unfortunately nothing may have been learned. We still threaten each other with nuclear weapons. No treaty has stopped the building of nuclear bombs. I wonder how the Japanese people keep the memory of this tragedy so that living can continue with some normalcy. Maybe it can be equated to a typhoon or earthquake, like a natural disaster having no morality or intention. It has influenced their imaginations ever since though, revealed in movies like Godzilla and in their Manga. Threatening creatures, imagined power that cannot be controlled or resisted. People can be like a natural disaster to each other. People can also be wonderful. We saw this as we left the city. A small group of dancers appeared on the dock to say goodbye. The dancing they did was so charming and touching. It was a traditional dance, maybe 15 dancers. About 8 people played instruments to accompany them, flutes, drums and other unique percussion. Watching from the top deck of the ship the dancers appear like exotical dolls. Three warriors pantomime their strength, emphasized with elegant gestures of their fans and their golden, brightly tasselled headdresses that bow and flash in opposition. Then the little children emerge, five of them. Their elders position them precisely and they wait for the music to begin. Their tiny movements are sweetly in time as they step then extend their fans to tap the air with it lightly, creating a feeling of certainty and control. Moving to one side with a gliding motion they unfurl their fan, flourish and close it, then glide to the other side and do the same. The dance continues with variations of these movements and some new ones punctuate occasionally. So intent and serious, each tiny performer dressed in elaborate traditional clothing, a magical, miniature display. The dance becomes hypnotic as it continues to the simple rhythms of the drums and flutes repeating and repeating an ancient significance remembered by a few. After they finish, our ship pulls away with several blasts from the horn. The tiny dancers wave goodbye, with their hands crossing again and again in front of their faces, for so long it seems as if they might continue until we are out of sight. Finally we are too far away to hear the children cry out. This experience was fleeting and very moving. A dancing gesture of dignity and friendship. People are not their military, they are not their government. They have to participate in their society but they are first of all human. They want to create understanding beyond language and country.

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 7: Cruising Around the World Part 2

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

Chapter 7: Cruising Around the World Part 1

June 30, 2025
Hawaii, 6/1/25. Part 1

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.
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