Lyle, Norma, Michael, and me on family trip to Tahiti, 1962, aboard our 36-foot ketch, The Golden Hind. (Photographs are by Robin Lee Graham unless otherwise indicated)
Leaving Ala Wai, Hawaii, on September 14, 1965, headed for Fanning Island, my first landfall, 1,050 miles due south in Pacific.
Suzette and Joliette.
Two weeks out of Fanning, only 15 miles from Tutuila in the Samoan islands, a sudden squall hit Dove, breaking the mast. Using the boom for a mast, I set a jury rig and headed for Apia on the island of Upolo, where the mast was repaired.
The harbor of Pago Pago. I waited out the hurricane season in the Samoan islands from January to mid-May 1966.
In the Tonga islands.
Tongon dignitaries–time for mourning for Queen Salote.
Offerings for the late Queen.
The Tonga islands were called the “Friendly Islands” by Captain James Cook.
The forward cabin of Dove.
Fijian children playing in the ocean.
In a lagoon off Savala. Patti and the nearly twenty-pound tuna she caught.
Fijian ceremonial dance.
Fijian father and son at bath time.
Navigating aboard Dove.
Repairing sails.
Sailing in the Solomons. The picture shows the wind vane my father and I designed. It was attached to a gear system and a trim rudder, acting as an automatic pilot to keep the boat on coarse. L. Graham)
Dove at sea.
A feast of roast pig my father gave for the Savo islanders. The guests brought food too–papayas, melons, bananas, bele, kava, and coconuts.
Porpoises often swam along beside Dove; sometimes I thought they were trying to talk to me.
Sighting the sun with the sextant. (L. Graham)
Wreck of a World War II Japanese destroyer on Florida Island, near Guadalcanal. (L. Graham)
This was taken with a string attached to the shutter the morning after Dove was hit by a violent storm in the Indian Ocean in the middle of the night. The mast buckled and fell over the side; while I was hauling it aboard, I was thrown into the water and just barely managed to pull myself back into the boat.
Sailing under jerry-rig.
Mauritius, boat under jerry-rig.
A new mast was shipped out to Mauritius and I stepped it there with the help of friends.
Near Pretoria in the Transvaal. We traveled overland from Durban in South Africa to Johannesburg and Pretoria, and to the Kruger National Park. (Patricia Graham)
Robin and Patti, overlooking Gordons Bay, South Africa.
Navigating aboard Elsa in front of a termite hill.
Kili relaxing.
Robin and Patti, South Africa.
Honeymoon trip, South Africa.
Pete, harbor master’s pet seal, Gordon Bay, South Africa.
Cape Town, Table Mountain in the background.
Around the Cape of Good Hope, which is not the southernmost point of Africa; Cape Agulhas, 125 miles to the southeast, holds that honor.
Kili and Fili playing aboard Dove, tied up on the river at Paramaribo, Surinam.
Paramaribo, open-air market.
Surinam River.
The return of Dove in Fort Lauderdale, Florida–the thirty-three-foot fiberglass sloop I finished the voyage in, after selling little Dove in the Virgin Islands.
Getting big Dove ready for sea.
Running before the wind out of Virgin Gorda Sound, Dove rigged with double headsails set wing and wing. (Patricia Graham)
Near Nassau on the way from Florida to the Virgin Islands.
From the Bahamas to St. Thomas.
“The Baths” in Virgin Gorda Sound. (Patricia Graham)
Head carpenter, and the only one, Bitter End Resort, Virgin Gorda Sound.
Virgin Gorda Sound.
Grouper speared during lunch break, Virgin Gorda Sound.
En route from the Virgin Islands to the San Blas Islands near Panama.
From Panama, I sailed Dove to San Cristobal in the Galapagos Islands 700 miles west of the South American coast.
Giant tortoise, Galapagos Islands.
Fernandina sea lion.
Marine Iguana.
Mockingbird on Hood island.
Galapagos Islands, lobster, and Robin.
Tagus Cove.
Baby sea lion on Hood island.
Baby booby–Hood island.
Isabela penguin.
In the doldrums.
Slicing homemade bread.
Off San Clemente, California, about a day’s sail from home.
Cooling off and keeping clean with rainwater I caught in the mainsail.
Sighting the breakwaters of Los Angeles harbor, April 30, 1970.
Welcome home. (L. Graham).
The end of the voyage is now official.
Quimby in her bathtub at Long Beach Marina.
Patti coming out to greet my arrival home.
Patti and Quimby, Patrick Creek, settling in.
Patti, Quimby, and I taking a break. We are building our log house (tool shed in the background) and hope to grow or make most of the things we need. (Derek Gill)
Montana, 1971. We’ve decided to live here in the mountains, learning from nature how we are meant to live. (Patricia Graham)
Patrick Creek cabin, Quimby and Robin.