The Log of the Moira

Richard and Frederique Chesher live a very interesting life. For about the last forty years, they have been tooling around the South Pacific ocean aboard Moira, their 44 foot motorsailer/research vessel. They were once chased by pirates and their smarts combined with a bit of luck allowed them to escape. At sea, when pirates call, the victims generally disappear with their plundered vessel to the bottom of the sea, never to be heard from again. That is the constantly looming, deadly downside of travel at sea in a small vessel.

The upside makes the risk worthwhile, and it's on full display in The Log of the Moira, an online chronicle of the Cheshers research expedition in the South Pacific in search of the invisible threads that shape evolution. They spent extended time in Hong Kong, the Philippines, Micronesia, Fiji, Tonga, New Zealand, Australia, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Palau, New Guinea, Samoa, and a bunch of obscure places, about which us Westerners know virtually nothing.

I have had the good fortune of visiting the Cheshers aboard Moira in Vava'u, a group of outer islands in the Kingdom of Tonga and, a few years later, in Port Vila, the capitol of the island nation of Vanuatu.

I have already written about one of Rick Chesher's exciting initiatives in the March 'Giant Clam' entry to this blog. The Log of the Moira chronicles their adventures, their work with conservation of marine biology of the South Pacific, and their interaction with some of the most unusual human cultures found anywhere on Earth. The log is also packed with the wisdom gleaned from the very unique life experiences they've known, and the people they've met along their journey.

I had the privilege of reading much of the Moira logs twenty years ago, when they existed only in manuscript form. As currently constituted on line, the logs are offered in a visual format that makes them even more engaging. The log is not presented as a journal driven by time, but rather as a collection of experiences and observations, linked by what Rick calls, 'Threads of Awareness in Chaos'. As such, the log is exciting to read and also life affirming in its conclusions.

 Here is a link to the beautifully presented, Log of the Moira...

 http://www.log-of-the-moira.com/

 Here is a link to a sphere image of the Moira in New Caledonia....

 http://www.360cities.net/image/new-caledonia-cruising