Shiver Me Timbers, I'm Sailing Away

As Jon wrote in the previous blog, we depart Cairns in the morning for Indonesia, the next leg of our journey. Amid our last week of making preparations, we escaped one day for a trip to the Daintree National Park where the rain forest meets the Great Barrier Reef. We enjoyed a river boat tour where we saw baby crocodiles in the wild (and their mothers too) and did some bird watching.

Most certainly the hardest part about leaving is saying goodbye to Jon's cousin Danielle and her family. Though they had never met before our arrival last November, familial bonds were quickly established and we have shared many family stories, photos, letters and even a recorded interview of their grandmother, Oma Oma. The sorrow of goodbye is only eased by the expectation of future visits and the knowledge that we are only a Skype call away.

Taken on Mother's Day.
David, Adrienne, Justin, Danielle and Adam

While Jon described the art of leaving in more scientific terms, for me it is better described in emotional terms. It was with some melancholy that I returned to Cairns last month after a 3 week home visit. I miss my family. I miss my friends. And I miss my community. I feel conflicted about leaving some issues back home still unresolved. And, I was terribly disappointed that the Somali pirates caused us to re-chart our course away from the Red Sea and to head instead around South Africa. But at the end of the day, I want to complete this journey Jon and I have set for ourselves. I want to complete a circumnavigation by sea and am willing to persevere.

In 1971, Tom Waits wrote Shiver Me Timbers. Bette Midler, who has recorded it and performs it often, sings my favorite version of the song. Perhaps it best captures my feelings as we prepare to go back to sea.

Shiver Me Timbers

I'm leavin' my fam'ly and leavin' my friends

My body's at home and my heart's in the wind

Where the clouds are like headlines on a new front page sky

My tears are salt water and the moon's full and high

And I know Martin Eden is gonna be proud of me

And many before me who've been called by the sea

To be up in the crow's nest and singin' my say

And shiver me timbers I'm a-sailin' away

The fog's liftin' and the sand's shiftin' and I'm driftin' on out

And Ol' Captain Ahab he ain't got nothin' on me


So come on and swallow me, don't follow me I travel alone
Blue water's my daughter and I'm skipping like a stone


So please tell my missus, tell her not to cry
My goodbye is written by the moon in the sky
Hey, and nobody knows me I can't fathom my stayin'
And shiver me timbers I'm a-sailin' away


And the fog's liftin' and the sand's shiftin' and I'm driftin' on out
Ol' Captain Ahab he ain't got nothin' on me
So come on and swallow me, don't follow me I travel alone
Blue water's my daughter and I'm skipping like a stone

And I'm leavin' my family leavin' my friends
My body's at home but my heart's in the wind

where the clouds are like headlines on a new front page sky

And shiver me timbers I'm a-sailin' away