Daily Postings

Renate’s Daily Postings

February 20, 2012

Dear friends and family everywhere,

Tomorrow I leave Canada for Costa Rica, exchanging cold and dreary weather for warm and balmy, soul restoring climate.

Adriana Domenech, the owner of El Remanso, has invited me for a four day stay at El Remanso, a rainforest retreat that I have wanted to visit ever since 2007.  I am so pleased that Maureen Hackett, who I had my last dinner at Drake Bay Wilderness Resort with, introduced me to Adriana!

On the 27th of February I will return to Drake Bay Wilderness Resort to resume my swim and return to my life as a mermaid.

The weeks since my sons’ death have been the most excruciating of my life, with severe insomnia and many other physical symptoms to accompany the extreme grief I am going through.  I know that the ocean will help me restore my deeply broken heart, though it might take a lifetime.  My commitment to the ocean and the creation and expansion of marine sanctuaries is stronger than ever, since the tragedy I experienced reinforces for me the need to work on behalf of the oceans’ health.

Please contact me in Costa Rica at 011 506 8554 8266, ideally at 7pm in the evenings.  Thank you to everyone in advance who is supporting this swim, especially Maureen Hackett who has sent me a very generous donation of $1000!

Mermaid greetings,

Renate

February 9, 2012

Dear friends and family far and near, in the sea and above ground and in the earth and in the heavens,

For the first time ever, I’ve had to interrupt a swim and come home early.  On January 10 late at night while sleeping in my lovely room at the enormously beautiful Drake Bay Wilderness Resort, I received a phone call that ended life as I know it.  My former husband informed me of the sudden and tragic death of our dearly beloved  23 year old son Silvan Herberger, something I could not have imagined in my remotest fantasy.  I screamed until I had no voice left, and my dear neighbours in the room next to me came running, and remained with me throughout that terrible night.  They booked my return flight, packed with me and held me while I howled at the full moon in disbelief that this could have happened.  Sylvia Obando, who has helped and will continue to help with the organization of the swim, received me at the airport in San Jose and comforted me while I waited for my return flight.

I have not recovered from this shock and am not sure I ever will.  To lose a child is the worst loss a human being can endure and the harshest test for a mother.

On January 5 I had begun the swim on an extremely auspicious sign: just after leaving Golfito Bay I noticed a family of pilot whales crossing in front of the boat that was taking me to Punta Burica at the Panama border where I planned to start the swim on that day.  I asked the boat driver to stop in the hope that the pilot whales would stick around for a while and I could photograph them.  Even though they moved away rather quickly, there was a lot of whale sounds coming from below the boat.  It was loud and insistent, alternating between high clicks and deep sonorous cries.  After listening to this for a while I had the distinct sense that I was being called, and put on my mask and snorkel and let myself fall into the water.

Underneath the boat, ramrod straight, a very big young male pilot whale was waiting for me and stared me straight in the eyes.  I had never seen a whale in this position and it remained very still, looking at me all the while.  Eventually, we started swimming together and after a while he slowly descended into the deep where I could no longer follow.  It was one of the most unusual experiences I have ever had as a swimmer since this is not a position whales assume while under water.  I was utterly enchanted and read it as a welcome home for the mermaid.  Seeing this beautiful young whale made me so happy and the next few days of swimming were absolutely heavenly.

Just a few days later I realized that this was my son’s good-bye to me.

The night before my son’s passing was one of the most beautiful in my life – perhaps life wanted me to have this experience so I would be able to remember happiness in my darkest moments.  My boat support driver had miscalculated the return time and so we ended up speeding through a glorious sunset and full moon rise in huge waves.  I felt utterly safe with him racing through wave valleys, barely avoiding breaking waves and felt incredibly fortunate to be so close to the cauldron of life and the wild energy of Yemaya, the Mother of the seas.  Little did I know what I would have to experience hours later…

It is now a full moon later and I have had to give last rites to my son.  I still can’t believe it has all happened.  The seas are calling me with all their might and the wonderful Costa Rican Pacific is tugging at my heart-strings.  Most of my friends are urging me to go back and continue the swim as a legacy to my son, and as a way to start the healing journey.  The sea has no limits to how many tears she can accept.

I plan to return to the swim within the next couple of weeks, as soon as I have received confirmation of good dates at Drake Bay Wilderness Resort.

Some very beautiful souls have helped me through the worst days of wild grief: my beloved oldest son Taaniel Herberger-Brown, my daughter in heart Jasmine Rose McKean, and Silvan’s childhood friend Nadia St Amand who never left my side for 7 days and nights.  Good friends came and brought food, flowers and loving words throughout the first days and continue coming even now.  Every day is a struggle, but I know that life must go on and that I owe it to Silvan to continue my life as a mermaid.  I know his spirit will accompany me wherever I go.  Some of his ashes will remain in my beloved Costa Rica.

For any of you who did not know this please feel free to call me anytime at 001 250 656 1312 or email me at renatemermaid@gmail.com or write to me at 11120 Rosborough Rd.; North Saanich, BC; V8L 5M3; Canada.  At a time like this, all contacts are welcome and needed, especially by anyone who has experienced the loss of a child.  Thank you in advance for your compassion and sharing my grief with me.

In an ocean of tears, Renate.

 

January 2, 2012

Queridos Amigos y Amigas del Mar y de la Tierra.

Estoy escribiendo desde el Hotel Índigo de San Jose Costa Rica, donde estoy patrocinada por tres noches, un lugar lindisimo y tranquilo. Hoy en la tarde tuve la conferencia de prensa, aqui mismo, y ya deberia de verse las entrevistas de los canales a partir de mañana.  La noche del año nuevo fui invitada a pasarlo con la familia de la camarera Magdalena del hotel las Orquídeas. Ella se dio cuenta que yo iba a pasar el año nuevo sola y ella se recordaba de mi instancia en el hotel las Orquídeas como mi ultima estadía en la travesía anterior. Ella se había encantado porque yo le regale una candela y ella se acuerda de mi cuando enciende la vela. Salio que hubo chance de rescatar una vida en esta noche del año nuevo como la prima de ella fue en pleno proceso de una trombosis. Yo la inyecte con mi anti-coagulante y yo espero que ya este en tratamiento para su enfermedad peligrosa.

Parece que voy a salir hacia Golfito el Miércoles después de una entrevista con Repretel y todavía no es cierto donde me voy a quedar a dormir por mi llegada tarde a Golfito. Soy feliz que me va acompañando en la lancha Don Francisco quien ya me había ayudado en tres travesías anteriores y le tengo mucha confianza. Ya no quiero esperar mucho para meterme en el mar como lo extraño muchísimo. El mar Costarricense tiene una magia enorme y nunca me hubiera podido imaginar hacer esta travesía de 1000 kilómetros hacer 5 veces año tras año!

December 29, 2011

Dear friends and family,
This is the first time in my life as a mermaid that I have had to postpone the beginning of my annual marine migration.  This has been an extremely difficult choice to make but in the end our children must be more important than anything else.

Three days before I was scheduled to leave, my son had a bad biopsy result. There were suspicious cells, abnormal cells in his right breast. We all lived through some very scary times, and I saw that our Medical Health Care System can actually do the right thing. Just two weeks later, he had the growth in his chest removed, and thankfully it turned out to be benign!

I am beginning to use voice recognition and find it deletes almost everything I speak. This is my fourth attempt at writing this, and since typing is so painful due to tendinitis in my upper arms, I have to rely on other means of writing.

My Mexico swim had to be postponed until next fall. As it turns out, that young man who was going to accompany me with his boat along the Baja Coast, Flavio Lau, had a serious bout with cancer and could not have accompanied me anyway due to complications with his second chemotherapy. We are now planning for early next fall, and hope that everyone will be well recovered!

Just two days from now, I am leaving at the crack of dawn to go to Costa Rica. Thanks to a young volunteer, I will have some logistical support through her E mails and phone calls. We have been working on this for the last couple of months and I look forward to this fifth swim/ teaching tour along the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica!

Today I spoke to the former first Lady Karen Olsen and received a very encouraging e-mail from Lynne Cox, the famous swimmer who wrote “Swimming to Antartica”. She has been supportive of my swims for the last four years, and I feel very honored to be her friend.

My volunteer helper for the Costa Rica swim, Silvia Obando, has just been offered  a very good job, and this means that she can only help me in a limited way while she begins her new work. Alas, something like this has happened to me in every one of my swim journeys! It surely is an exercise in resourcefulness and never giving up!

So I wish you all a very happy New Year full of surprises and New Year’s resolutions that you will actually keep! My New Year’s resolution is to hang in there no matter what, because the oceans need me and I need them! One stroke at a time, one classroom at a time, engendering compassion and a new attitude towards our wonderful seas that need each one of us! May you be blessed with many miracles in this magical year 2012!

Renata

 

August 25, 2011

Dear Friends of the Sea,

On August 1, 2011, I decided to finally do a swim in our colder Nordic waters.

Through an acquaintance in Mexico I had been indirectly introduced to Indigo and her partner Geo Melville who now planned to come for a three day visit to my home. I wanted to spend the full day they had here with them and inquired what kind of an activity they might like to engage in. We settled on kayaking for the day and I found myself thinking that I would actually much rather be in the water than on top of the water. Thus the idea of a published swim was born late Monday evening. My visitors knew nothing of what was coming their way and I assumed they would be happy with an environmental action given that Geo was one of the first members of Greenpeace 30 years ago.

On Tuesday morning I called my friend and colleague Eric Swanson, the Corporate Campaigner for Dogwood Initiative, who I had volunteered for on and off for several years. Eric was immediately enthusiastic about partnering this swim with Dogwood Initiative’s “no tankers” campaign. I was extremely pleased to have Dogwood Initiative partner me on this swim since this is what I have been looking for during the last 4 years: a true partnership with a major environmental organization.

Amazingly enough the actual budget for this swim came in at zero dollars. Peter Harris, owner of Pacifica Paddle Sports, www.pacificapaddle.com, offered to supply the support kayaks and any money generated from renting kayaks to accompany the swim who were not official support kayaks. Peter had supported me on my prior big 6 month swim expedition with the gift of a wet suit and a dry bag and I was so pleased to engage him and his company in supporting this local swim.

There were really only three days to prepare for this swim and I immediately made contact with Judith Lavoie from Times Colonist and other media outlets. It was wonderful that Eric from Dogwood Initiative agreed to write a media advisory using their extensive media list. Also, the swim was published on their website and therefore made available to 11,000 readers. Guy Dauncey published the information on the swim on his extensive mailing list and so many people were informed of the details of the swim so they could be there for the send off and the arrival.

At the last minute my son Silvan Herberger came on board as a support kayaker. As a mother this pleased me immensely and having him by my side throughout the day made the swim so much easier. All the good parenting work paid off and it was lovely to hear from his mouth the kind of encouragements I had given him throughout his life!

The swim was supposed to begin at 9.00am at the Brentwood Bay ferry dock, but because of the many media present I spent a full hour doing interviews before I plunged into the ocean.

Dogwood Initiative sent representatives dressed as Mermaids and Jellyfish and I was glad to see that they were also interviewed extensively. The main issue we were addressing was the lack of protection of Saanich Inlet which should have received status as a National Marine Conservation Area (NMCA) years ago but progress on this has been painfully slow. There is risk of a massive development from Bamberton to Mill Bay. If this development were to go ahead there would be serious consequences to Saanich Inlet which has very little flushing capacity and is a store house of history, so much of which is still unexplored. Obviously, a nearby oil spill from a major tanker disaster would have terrible consequences for all life in and around Saanich Inlet.

The swim itself was a serene experience and I didn’t even see my support team for the first hour and 15 minutes. It had taken longer for them to get into the water than I anticipated and I probably should have waited for them to be right by my side from the get go. I was aware that I had limited hours to complete the swim and thus began before my team was ready. Thankfully, Ben from the Tsartlip First Nation happened to show up in his canoe just when I was really beginning to wonder if I would ever see a support boat! He accompanied me for about an hour and then informed Geo and Indigo who were paddling in the middle of the inlet nowhere near me, how to find me. I always follow shore lines because this gives me an opportunity to see what is below me and to pick up garbage along the way.

My friend Susan Clark, who lives at the halfway point of the swim journey kindly provided a rest stop for my support crew. First one kayak, then the other, took about an hour to stretch, go to the bathroom and have a few snacks that Susan had lovingly prepared. I looked longingly at her home but realized I had no time at all for a break if I wished to arrive at Chalet Beach at a reasonable hour. I don’t think my crew would have managed such a long day on the water without this rest stop. Thank you, Susan!

I was delighted to have a chance to swim with my other family that lives near her home on the rocks just outside Ardmore Bay. These seals have gotten to know me throughout the summer and now approach me very closely and on occasion make physical contact. To see them swimming below me is one of the greatest pleasures the Saanich Inlet offers to me and I am so grateful to have found this loving and lovely family in the water!

Crossing Pat Bay took real effort since by this time I was swimming against the current, tide, wind and wave. I think my son Silvan was feeling colder than I was since he did not have the benefit of neoprene padding! I am glad I had used as many layers as I did since 9 hours in the water would have been impossible without adequate neoprene protection.

Every half hour of the swim I was handed a glass of hot tea from the thermos, and the combination of my favorite tea, Earl Grey with lots of honey and milk, as well as the ingestion of a Lindor chocolate at every rest stop kept me swimming very happily. I do wish I could get Lindt to sponsor chocolates for me! All my long haul swims include at least one chocolate bar a day!

Rounding the corner into Chalet Beach was a truly magical experience since people all along Chalet/Deep Cove Bay were cheering me on and waving. I could see that there was quite a crowd at the beach awaiting my arrival and I relished the last moments in the sea, my true home.

The swim took a full 9 hours of uninterrupted swimming including my tea pauses in the water. It covered 19km according to Geo’s GPS and therefore is exactly the average I swim per day on the long haul swims. I could have easily done the same on the following day since there was very little fatigue resulting from the swim. My dear friend Laura Phoenix brought all kinds of delectable snacks to the beach where we had our supper and celebrated the successful swim.

Over the next few days, the swim was featured on A Channel TV, CHEK TV, CBC Radio Canada with Amanda King, two editions of the Times Colonist, two articles in the Peninsula News Review, and a full page feature article in Monday Magazine. Not bad for 3 days planning!

Now my energy is directed towards organizing my winter swims that likewise often come together at the last minute. I am hoping to inspire the kind of partnership I enjoyed with Dogwood Initiative on my long haul swims, and look forward to a major project with Dogwood Initiative next summer, possibly swimming the tanker route along Juan de Fuca Strait. That swim would probably require a dry suit since I am told that the temperature can fluctuate between 2 and 12 degrees Celsius!

Thank you to each and everyone who chose to give of themselves in this effort. The seas are worth it and need all of us to collaborate in the healing of not only the Saanich Inlet, but the global ocean.

May/03/2011

Dear friends and family of the sea and land,

It has been one week today since my return to the northern Hemisphere  -  where I am enduring rain and unseasonable cold, clearly a result of global climate change, which is also the principal culprit of the loss of almost all of the corals along the Pacific coast of Costa Rica…

My dear friend Antelope is typing this blog for me and in spite of the poor chilly weather I am enjoying the first bulbs of spring outside her home, looking through her large glass door. The maple buds are of an extraordinary green, the type of brilliant color leaning towards yellow, which I have not seen in the tropics during the last six-months.

I am still astonished by the ease with which the swim around Barbados Island became manifest.
After struggles in Mexico and Costa Rica for five long months and experiencing many setbacks on both swims, the Barbados swim seems miraculous in the effortless way in which it all flowed.

On the morning after my arrival there, my friend and hostess Fran Woodcock introduced me to her neighbor Richard Farmer who fed us the most delicious Barbados fish soup for lunch and promised to make a phone call or two to see if he could help organize a swim around the island. The following day I received a phone call from a fisherman friend of his named named Richard Thomas who expressed interest in supporting my attempt. Apparently no one had ever been successful in a swim around the island!

When I asked Richard how much he would charge for his time supporting the swim, he said he would only charge for fuel expenses. This surprised me greatly since in my prior experiences, fishermen are not well known for volunteer work. As it turns out, the swim took a full five days, since it was 98 km in length. It required me to change my airplane ticket to accomplish the swim.

Fran accommodated me as her house guest for the full 2 weeks, which also gave me a chance to spend many hours, day and night, to teach her 9 year old daughter Mackenzie how to be a mermaid!

Richard Thomas taught me what it is like to have truly committed boat support, and he displayed profound kindness towards me as an athlete, activist and dreamer. Never have I felt so well taken care of by a boat captain. I trusted him implicitly with all the decisions; with the swim route, the best times, days and swim directions.

Not only did he take charge of seeing the swim through to completion, he also found the fuel sponsorship for four of the five days of swim time, the Marine Trust.  He also arranged my media interviews, took me to two schools and was an integral part of the classes I taught at both of these schools to hundreds of students. This level of participation in the totality of the swims which serve as a vehicle to educate young people and the general public about our current crisis in the global ocean and ways to help in the healing of the seas through the establishment of large marine sanctuaries, was a first to me, and a tremendous gift.

Richard was involved in every detail of the swim action right down to calling me at 4 am on the morning of my departure from the island, to be sure I was awake!
A very special touch of kindness and generosity of joy was when he surprised  me with some sweet little chocolates on my last swim day just because I mentioned I had not had time to get a chocolate supply for the swim  – chocolate is the secret to my success in covering so many miles in any given swim day! – and to crown off that, he threw a party to mark the success of the swim. THANK YOU Richard!
I would like to also thank Phil Perry, who coordinates search and rescue on Barbados, for driving me to the airport at 5am when other arrangements fell through. We will work together at another swim around Barbados in the near future, with more lead time and many more educational workshops along the way.

I already miss listening to humpback whales sing their songs, one of the privileges of spending so much time in the ocean and keeping my ears under water. To be a part of their world and knowing they are close by even though I cannot see them is a phenomenal privilege.

If it were not for the incredible generosity of my sponsors I would never have the opportunity to swim in water where I can hear them and feel like I belong with them. I feel so passionate about my commitment to protect waters for all of the splendid beings of the Sea and us.

A very special thanks goes out to Dawne Deeley, my neighbour who has had faith in me and the mission from the beginning, and has supported the swims over these last four years with very significant financial donations and kind friendship.

Apr/15/2011

Dear friends and family,
I am writing to you from Barbados where I have been these last 7 days. It was a last minute decision to make this detour on the way home to visit with my friend Fran Woodcock and her family.
Every single key I type on a computer causes me shooting pains up my arms due to chronic calcific tendinitis and it means that all my blogs get written only when a kind person offers to type it for me. Today’s kind person is Kaiya O’cheek, Fran’s daughter of fourteen years.
Yesterday I finished the first ever swim around the Island of Barbados. It took me five days to swim 120 km and I had the great fortune of having the boat support of Richard Thomas, a Bajan fishermen who volunteered five days of his life to see this first ever swim through. Fuel expenses will be covered by the Marine Trust as well as a private restaurant owner, Paul Johnson.
It seems near miraculous to have barely stepped off the plane and four days later begin such a historic swim.
Today I taught the first of numerous classes in the Bajan school system on Marine Conservation and found the children to be very receptive to my message.
This swim itself went over miles of coral reef which was not as badly damaged as I feared. It has to do with the fact that the primary coral here is brain coral which is hardier then the massive, or elegant coral which is mostly found in Costa Rica where most of it has died by now.
It was a great relief to finally swim over live coral again!
Strangely enough, the worst coral here is in the tiny marine reserve that measures 600 meters into the ocean and 2.1 km wide. Tiny Marine parks like this really don’t stand a chance when surrounded by new developments and therefore massive sedimentation, endure countless speed boats right at its perimeter and fishing for bait within its boundaries.
I really emphasize the need for better protection of all the fringing reefs in Barbados as well as the other Caribbean Islands, when I did my media interviews today.
I suggest a one mile wide no take zone around all the islands to give failing fish stocks time to recover.
Even though the Costa Rican corals are in such a bad state I got to see many more fish then I got to see here in Barbados.
Every body worried that I would be attacked by sharks but I prayed to see one. However, I did not see a single one. This is usually a sign of an ecosystem in distress. A good marine ecosystem has sharks in it, a sign of its overall health.
Dear friends, night is beginning to fall so I must sign off!
May you all have a beautiful Easter week!

Feb/26/2011

Dear friends and family.

– Once again I have found a kind person to type this for me. Her name is Isabella and she is the daughter of the manager of the Rip Jack Inn in Playa Grande,my current hotel sponsor. I arrived here yesterday in Playa Grande after a very long drive over a very nasty, bumpy road. My dear friend Johnny Mendez offered to come all the way from Liberia, a three hour drive to Nosara to take me from there to Playa Grande. At Rip Jack Inn  I just had my dessert served and my 10 year old writer is laughing her head off, and is peeing her pants laughing at my expressions  as I eat my divine banana foster, a concoction made of: sliced bananas,  Dos Pinos vanilla ice cream and an anonymous syrup. The expressions on my face were cause obviously of great delight! The manager Tabitha is bending the rules quite a bit and letting me eat my heart out with the most amazing delicacies . I thought I would  only eat employee food but this is definitely beyond my wildest hopes!

I spent all day making endless phone calls trying to find boat support,  all without success,  today. I am exhausted beyond description and getting close to the end of my tether.That eleven months of preparation for a three months joint project with Pretoma would result in nothing more than a single week  of boat support is beyond disappointing,and obviously spells the end of any future cooperation. So much preparation led to so little result.

While in Nosara, I had the opportunity  to swim accompanied by a kayak. As always,these are my favorite swim days since I do not have to smell gasoline fumes or listen to an engine. We dodged big waves and surfed the Kayak ashore at the end. If only I could do the whole swim accompanied by  kayaks! Tomorrow is the turtle festival at nine a.m in Playa Grande. I have not seen a single poster announcing it and can only hope that lots of people turn up anyway. I am so tired that I must close now.

Feb/13/2011

Queridos Amigos del Mar y de la tierra; estoy en uno de los lugares mas bonitos de Costa Rica y la Tierra; su nombre es hotel Punta Islita. al norte de Guanacaste.

Es mi segunda vez en este lugar y me siento muy alegre de haber recibido la invitacion; otra vez.

Esta vez estoy reservando todo un dia para dar charlas y clases en las escuelas regionales alrededor del hotel y a los huespedes asi como a los empleados del hotel.

Los ultimos 4 dias estube trabajando con el Capitan Amado y su ayudante Eduardo; de hecho empesamos a trabajar en Montezuma;  la bomba  de gas de Cobano ofrecio patrocinar mis gastos de gasolina, que fueron 97.000 colones; algo que fue un gran gesto de generosidad de parte del dueño.

Esta fue la primera vez que un dueño de una bomba me ofrecio ayudar. Cobano es el lugar o pueblo mas cercano a Montezuma.

Antes de llegar a Punta Islita, estube hospedada durante 4 noches en Esterrillos Oeste; en el Rancho Corral; un hotel pequeño al frente de la playa. Cerca del lugar habian muchos pescadores por lo que no pude contratar a nadie que me ayudara. Un pescador me prometio ayudar durante los siguientes 5 dias pero no llego a ayudarme y me dejo plantada a las 6:00 a.m.

Desafortunadamente mi impresion acerca de los pescadores es peor dia a dia; por lo que ha pasado; para mi es dificil ya confiar en los pescadores ya que casi nunca cumplen su palabra.

Tube suerte cuando llame a mi amigo Nielkahn de Kayak Jaco y me ofrecio apoyo de un dia con Kayak; la persona guia me dio la oportunidad de experimentar; nadar de esterrillos oeste que es una playa de marea fuerte hacia punta mala; que es uno de los lugares con marea fuerte y muy alta de toda costa pacifica del pais; hasta playa hermosa que es una playa donde realizan surf y tambien de muy fuerte oleaje.

Adrian el guia, me prometio que iba a dejar el kayak en la playa y me acompañaria a la orilla; como el tiene una historia de 6 años como salvavidas confie en el; y supere mi miedo de salir a la orilla de la playa ya que es muy fuerte el oleaje.

Salimos a una estacion biologica del MINAE, de tortugas; y ahi conoci a Jonhy un voluntario del MINAE que desde los 14 años; trabaja es voluntario del MINAE; me alegro conocer a otro voluntario quien dedica su vida a preservar la vida marina sin pedir nada a cambio; sin pedir dinero.

Me alegro tanto encontrar a alguien que tiene la misma actitud en su forma de vivir. Nos dimos un bonito abrazo reconociendo uno al otro su esfuerzo. Para mi fue un gran alivio de saber que existe al menos otra persona que entiende la pasion que siento yo por el mar y tampoco tiene interes de obtener ganancias del mar.

Se despide Renate…

Jan/30/2011

Queridos Amigos del Mar y de la Tierra,

Estoy escribiendo desde el  Hotel  Arenas Del Mar, donde yo di 3 charlas hoy, dos para empleados y una para huespedes.Anoche sali  de cenar con Silvia Obando, la encargada de sostenibilidad, que me organizo mis charlas. Estoy muy feliz que tuve este chance de compartir sobre el estado del mar y maneras de ayudarlo un poquito.

En mi cuarto es uno de los lugares mas lujosos que yo tuve el placer de poder estar adentro y cada noche paso mis ultimos momentos antes de dormir en el jacuzzi viendo las estrellas, agradeciendo el universo para todos estos regalos enormes. A mi me alegra muchisimo cuando puedo compartir lo que me preocupa mas que todo: el estado del mar y maneras de rescatarlo.

Mi cuarto tiene una  vista del mar con  una gran piedra que esta a unos kilometros de distancia. Hoy voy a nadar sin apoyo de lancha alrededor de esta isla.  Ha sido extremadamente dificil conseguir lanchas de apoyo en mi camino y eso es la parte mas frustante de mis travesias a nado. A veces los capitanes rompen el contrato, no llegan al tiempo acordado, inventan razones para regresar mas temprano de lo acordado, reciben una oferta que les pagan mejor de lo que yo puedo ofrecer y entonces mi situacion es muy insegura la mayoria del tiempo.

Por eso he decidido en esta mi cuarta travesia a nado de la costa Pacifica de Costa Rica, de concentrar me mas en dar los talleres al publico que cumplir cada milimetro del nado de la costa como ya di la prueba en tres travesias anteriores que si puedo cumplir la meta de nadar toda las costa. Hasta la fecha en mis travesias he nadado en total 3543 kilometros- no es exactamente poco ! Mi preferencia siempre seria nadar lo mas posible por que de verdad me encanta y me da paz. Mi familia es la del mar mas que todo y les extrano terriblemente cuando no estoy con ellos. Tambien extrano mi familia humana y este hotel permite el privelegio de hacer llamadas  sin cobro internacionalmente. Este me dio el chance a hablar con mis seres queridos y me alivio de la soledad un poquito.

Todavia no se donde me voy a quedar a partir de manana, como Arenas Del Mar esta completamente lleno. Silvia esta ayudando a buscar otro patrocinador en el area de Quepos. Siempre me siento un poco nerviosa cuando las cosas no son resolvidas hasta el ultimo momento. Mi telefono contiene mas que 600 contactos adentro a cada quien conozco personalmente y con quienes hable mas que una vez para darles una idea de la magnitud de mi trabajo. Cuando no tengo apoyo de lancha, hay dias en que hago llamadas logisticas para ocho horas y tengo que recargar mi telefono hasta dos veces en un dia  por que la bateria  no aguanta tantas horas de llamadas seguidas.

Hoy es uno de estos dias pero espero tambien nadar unas tres o cuatro horas despues de un masaje que ahora voy  a disfrutar en pocos minutos.

Un abrazo a todos.

Jan/29/2011

Dear Friends and Family,

Once again I have found a wonderful person who is typing this for me!  Unfortunately after writing my very first e-mail today my tendinitis acted up again and I am so fortunate that my host’s neighbor, Kitty Sabo, is willing to kindly type this for me as well as take me to Quepos, my next base.

As soon as you will receive this, I will give Kitty a WATSU treatment in her wondrous pool which I enjoy so much giving and I know the receiver is in a blissful state.

My arrival in Bahia Ballena as greeted by a large crowd at the beach, something I truly enjoy and which does not happen at every base.  I was filmed for a TV interview swimming in front of Isla Ballena and featured on several TV channels on that and the following days.  It also appeared in three major newspapers.

One of the reporters handed me his phone with the mayor on the line who wished to congratulate me on my achievements.  He offered full support for my boat safety in the area as well as invited me to teach a staff workshop at the municipality two days later.  He promised to send me a car and chauffeur to pick me up at 10 am, but no one ever showed up.  Apparently the press was waiting there but no one bothered to inform me that, obviously, things had changed.  I eventually managed to reach his secretary who had never heard of me or my workshop that day.  Some time later, I reached the mayor by phone who did not seem embarrassed by this lapse of professionalism. He still maintained his offer of $500 in boat support.

Since I had never been treated like this before by a government representative in a high official function, I expressed my feeling of disappointment towards him.  Later that day, my boat captain informed me that the mayor was no longer willing to offer any support at all after having promised this also directly to the boat captain.  Unfortunately, the mayor never bothered to inform me of this change.

All of this stands in such stark contrast to my experience with the Ocean Herself.  Sometimes this contrast becomes nearly unbearable.

When I am in my mermaid mode, I am surrounded by the vast energy field of the Sea where I feel utterly accepted and embraced and cradled by Her warmth and infinite movement.  Then back on dry land once again in logistical organizer mode, I am surrounded by uncertainty, broken promises, constant changes in plans due to factors over which I have no control and I often scramble just to stay on top of that day.  It is a juggling act of large proportions and sometimes, I myself wonder how on earth I got to (as of yesterday) 3,543 kilometers swum under such trying circumstances, as a single individual without any government or NGO support.  I myself am astounded that I have not given up yet, but I am driven by a larger vision that will not allow me to “throw in the towel.”

The Oceans can’t wait.

Perhaps these swims will never be smoothly or perfectly organized, but they do reach millions of people – most likely every Costa Rican has heard of me and my educational swims and I can only hope that attitudes are changing in part due to what I am trying to teach.  This is what keeps me going even on the most difficult of days when I am landlocked because, once again, my boat support has fallen apart.

The last three nights I spent at lyrically beautiful retreat named Liquid Magic – definitely not a bad place to be stuck without boat support!!  The owner, Eugene Mitchell, even gave me a healing Shen treatment last night which greatly reduced pain in my shoulders.

I am grateful to Diane Sobel Globerman for arranging this sponsorship for me.  It has been such a treat!

It is time to go now.

Ocean hugs from the mermaid

Jan/24/2011

Dear Friends and family of the sea and of the land,

It has been more than two weeks since you have heard from me. I have had extremely little access to Internet and right now Kathy is kindly typing this for me to avoid tendonitis flare-ups in my arms. In the end, New Year’s Eve was not entirely as bad as I’d imagined it would be in the last blog, since I spent a few hours with a family in Escazu. Soon after I took a bus from San Jose to Puerto Jimenez and arrived there after and 8-hour exhausting and uncomfortable journey. My friend Alberto Villalobos and his wife Yvonne picked me up at the bus stop and it was so moving to see him again and meet his family. It was almost like a journey back into my own childhood. His family and in-laws seemed truly excited to meet the mermaid, and I offered to return the following day to give a healing treatment to his mother-in-law Rommelia.

I stayed a few nights with Tao Watts, who made the most amazing home-cooked meals I’ve had in a long time. When I suggested she write a cookbook, she showed me the one she already published! I bought a copy (and it now weighs down my luggage) in hopes that I will be able to also make these fantastic concoctions.

I was invited by Lana, the owner of Luna Lodge, to come and spend three nights at her amazing and lyrical yoga retreat high up on a mountain above Karate. I had been wanting to realize this invitation for the last three years, and even though this meant giving up the southernmost portion of the swim, with 3 days’ swim from Punta Burica to Punta Banco, it gave me an opportunity to teach several workshops for Lana.

As a result of my work there, Lana will no longer sell bottled water by Aquafina (subsidiary of Coca-Cola), in and of itself a success because hotel owners’ decisions influence guests. It was worth giving up that part of the swim just to know that thousands of bottles per year will not pollute the ocean as a result of one owner’s decision to make a change in how she runs her business.

I also got to co-teach one of her yoga classes, using dance therapy to give people an appreciation of the mobility of our global ocean.

I want to recommend Luna Lodge to anyone who reads this and is contemplating a trip to the Osa Peninsula. Her guides are superbly informative, and I was able to go on all the offered tours while I was not teaching. On top of everything else, Lana had me flown from Puerto Jimenez to Karate bearing a New Year’s cake, which promptly ended up on my shirt. The flight itself was the most luminous ten minutes in my life, and I fly with CASARA, air search and rescue, and have been on many beautiful flights. To be gliding over the canopy of the rainforest, almost touching the tips of the trees, was a dreamlike experience.

Three days later I accompanied Alberto with the MINAE boat to Isla del Caño, on a rickety and unreliable boat that broke down several times in the hour-long journey, leaving us without engine power until repairs were made. The boat was also dangerously overloaded with five passengers, food for 16 days, and all my luggage, soaking everyone throughout the journey.

The park ranger’s station is a moldy and primitive structure with vinyl-covered mattresses that are permanently soaking wet from the humidity. I realized I would not be able to sleep indoors and just used my assigned space for storage. Of course everything was constantly damp. I placed my camera over my bedpost after inquiring about the safety status of the ranger’s cabin. I was told in no uncertain terms that nothing had ever been stolen there and it was safe to leave things open. So I saw no reason to mistrust and to my great chagrin I discovered on the third day that while my camera case was still where I’d placed it, the camera itself was no longer in the case.

Unfortunately I had not downloaded any of the pictures since the beginning of my journey in October—and possibly not even last year’s images. So possibly more than 1000 pictures have been stolen, besides the camera itself. These pictures would have served as part of my book that I am in the beginning stages of writing.

Of course there are very few potential suspects in this theft. I had rejected the advances of Alberto, and he had treated me with great disdain as a result of this rejection. If he simply thought of me as a commodity to be consumed, one could easily imagine that my camera was also something to be consumed, since it contained very personal information about me. Of course I have no proof for this, just a bad feeling.

When I left the island three days prematurely my heart was broken. The coral reef is in great distress around the island, and the park rangers have never even seen it since they do not swim. They spend their time mostly in the ranger hut, completely unaware of the magical and enchanted island they work on. They are surrounded by artifacts they do not understand and that are not properly protected.

Probably most archeological artifacts have been stolen off the island by now. No one spoke to me about my experiences while I was on the island, even though I repeatedly offered workshops to the park staff there. The level of apathy and disinterest I experienced there by the park staff is unlike anything I have ever seen anywhere on the planet. Also, the conversations I overheard had juvenile subject matter.

The reason I went to the island was to swim around it, to survey the coral reef, as well as listen to the enormous secrets that the island contains. The swim around the island was a complete solo and most likely the highest-risk swim I have ever done. I did not ask permission of the park staff because I knew they would not give it. I definitely left far too late in the day at 2 pm, because I couldn’t stand the loneliness another minute that I experienced with the staff’s exclusionary behavior. I have always found the ocean to be my best therapist and did in fact not plan to swim around it at that time. It’s like the island itself commanded it. I knew I was swimming against time and prayed that the currents would be with me throughout the swim. I knew I was pushing the envelope with this swim, since in the past it had taken me 8 hours to do, and now I had 4 hours.

It was the fastest swim of my life and totally exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. I had miscalculated the shape of the island and had rounded yet another corner, which was not the side where the parks building was on when the sun was setting. The redness of the sun was so exquisite that it felt like an apple I could bite into. So close, so very close. Now the race was on since I had less than a half-hour before black night would fall. The island is surrounded by numerous rock formations, which create large suction fields and surf around the rocks. Of course, at dark these are very hard to make out until you are almost in them.

I was quite happy to finally see a tiny bit of light coming from the ranger’s cabin. Of course no one had thought to put flashlights up on a rock to guide me in. Even though this swim was definitely not approved of by the rangers because of the risk I had incurred to myself, it was the most magnificent four hours of marathon swimming I had ever undertaken, and therefore I do not regret it—even though I would never recommend anyone else do the same swim without proper boat safety.

Once again it is time to move, and I bid you all farewell.

Dec/31/2010

Dear Ones everywhere,

It is New Year’s Eve, and will perhaps be the first one in my life I spend entirely alone.

The original plan was to spend it with my park warden friends on the island Isla del Cano, but unfortunately their schedule was changed and I will not get to arrive there until January 7.

Yes, this feels terribly lonely since I am on land - I have never had a lonely second in the sea! – and I realize how little I belong anymore on land, how the sea has altered my very being.

I long for Her when I am far from Her arms, and my trust in people wanes every day, –  and grows every day in the beings I have encountered so far in the ocean.

When I swam with all those supposedly dangerous sharks, I felt totally embraced by their magnificence, and not for a moment felt any fear.The sense of being slowly circled by these 400 million year old first inhabitants of Mother Earth and Sea was one of being recognized as being one in their world, no threat, just another being at home in the sea.

Please send me signs of life, every email means the world to me!

The logistics of doing these swims are fiendishly difficult at times, and often disheartening as so many promises are broken, sometimes more often than kept.

Especially today, I reach out to all of you readers with many warm wishes and much love in the New Year! May you never be alone when you most need friends!

Dec/30/2010

Dear friends and family,

hopefully you have all had a peaceful Christmas season, and I wish you all a very magical New Year!

On December 26, after midnight, I arrived in Costa Rica, to very cold weather – 11 degrees Celsius! – and light drizzle.

After 2 months of continuous sunshine, this was quite a change, and I am sleeping in many layers while I am in the capital city of San Jose.

As soon as I get to the coast, this will be different, and I can not wait to get into the ocean there…..

Yesterday, I had many media interviews here, with Repretel Canal 6 TV, Radio Columbia, Diario Exxtra, the most popular newspaper, and la Nacion, the most serious newspaper.

Tomorrow morning, I will be interviewed by the most widely seen TV channel, Teletica.

Hopefully, this will garner the necessary support along the coast, as well as inspire people to invite me to give workshops to adults and children alike.

It was so wonderful to be able to spread the message to more than 1000 children in La Paz and Cabo San Lucas, as well as at least 3000 adults, and I really hope to be able to do the same here!

Unfortunately, the workshop scheduled for this afternnon did not come to fruition – sometimes, this happens, and I have learned to take as little as possible personally; I can only offer, with all my heart.

I have a little apartment all to myself right now,for these first few city days,  in Escazu, thanks to Diane Sobel Globerman, a friend from January 2008, and I am using her computer right now.

I now have a cell phone thanks to my dear friend Jhonny Mendez, from Diario Exxtra, a media reporter who has helped me a lot last year and has lent me one of his phone lines! The number is: 011 506 8925 7262

Today I thought a lot about my lovely friend Satya in Victoria who painstakingly wrote all my 537 Costa Rican phone numbers in a book so I do not lose them while I get a new phone – what  loving act this was….Today was the day to transfer all these numbers into my new phone, and it has been an exhausting and long day, totally an office day.

On my last days in Cabo Pulmo, I am with sharks every single day, an incredible treat and well worth giving up the last 80 km of the swim for these extraordinary experiences. Cabo Pulmo is indeed worth fighting for, tooth and nail, since it not only is a coral reef in still good health, but also obviously a shark sanctuary!

Please all go to www.CABOPULMOVIVO.ORG and sign the online petition there!

Even with 2 weeks there, I was not able to activate the community to really work the petition drive, so you all must pick up the slack there and tell all your friends to sign!

My very last night in Mexico I stayed with Alfonso Reynoso Beltran Quibrera in la Paz, my friend with who I kayaked around Isla Espiritu Santo in January 1994, my very first time in Baja California Sur. It was so wonderful to see his uncle Joaquim Beltran Quibrera again and have a nontraditional Christmas dinner of seafood with Alfonso and his partner Angela. This means that I got to spend all the major holidays with Alfonso – Thanksgiving and Christmas!

I hope that all of you got to spend the holidays with loved ones from far and close, and I look forward to hearing from any and all you!

Mtra. Renate Herberger

Dec/24/2010

Dear friends and family,

Merry Christmas!

I am writing to you all from Cabo Pulmo where I have spent my last days in Mexico before my departure to Costa Rica on Sunday December 26th.  I will have been here altogether two weeks.  This is the longest I have ever stayed in one place during an active swim.  It is also the first time that I have actually had to give up on completing a route even though I would have had sufficient time.  If this had been my very first swim ever I would probably never do another one. It has been very demoralizing to see so many boats at the beach every day and not be able to hire one for a price I can afford.  Actually it has been quite depressing.  I do not like giving up and have been very hard on myself for this choice.  I have simply seen no way out of this situation and have made the best out of it.

After all I have had an opportunity to spend two weeks next to a marine reserve or marine sanctuary.  This gave me a chance to get to know this famous coral reef because I spent time on it every day.  I would have liked to introduce more people to it.  At least Meghan had a chance to accompany me two times out there.  It was her first time snorkeling amongst corals and it felt so good being able to bring this world to her.  Today I had the opportunity to introduce two women to the world of corals and sea lions.  Last night I gave a presentation including three movies – Shark Water, Desert Oasis, Seasonal Seas – at a little restaurant, and the owner’s wife and daughter wanted to experience their own marine world today for the first time.  It was quite wild out and I was surprised that they did not ask me to turn back before we reached the sea lion rocks.  The thirteen year old daughter, Yasmine actually hardly knew how to swim.  She was in a life jacket and I wondered about my choice in taking her out in such a storm.  However my sense now is that this probably will have been a very significant day in her life since she is dreaming of becoming a marine biologist, I hope I could make a difference in her life.

The last few days I have seen sharks on a daily basis.  I will really miss them because the chance of seeing so many sharks is less likely in Costa Rica.  Yesterday I saw a very large bull shark, and the day before a beautiful tiger shark.  It really was as striped as a tiger.  The beauty of sharks really is astounding.  They are perfectly designed and swim with an indescribably grace.  It is so hard to imagine how some men spend their lives cutting off the fins of sharks to make lots of money.  I wonder if they have any feeling inside at all for these magnificent animals.  To see Shark Water again yesterday reminded me of one of the central missions of my swims, to establish shark sanctuaries.  We have the great bear rainforest where bears are absolutely protected yet sharks enjoy no protection anywhere with the exception of inside marine reserves that enforce no take zones.  I am told that Cabo Pulmo Marine Park is a no take zone.  However I have picked up fishing line right in the reserve, so obviously there is some illegal fishing going on.  Actually someone in Los Barilles whose name I cannot mention told me personally he knew several fishermen who come on a nightly basis to steal fish from the marine reserve, apparently without impunity.  I myself have not seen the CONANP boat out in the water, however I imagine it must go out sometimes, but it is not enough.  Perhaps there simply isn’t enough budget assigned by the government to have proper vigilance.  Obviously any marine reserve that is not properly protected through vigilant activity is one only in name.

Well, it is Christmas evening, and it appears that my hostess Sola and I might go out caroling.  I would love that no matter how incongruous it might seem here.  Meghan made perogies so this will be a new tradition, home made perogies for Christmas Eve.

I wish you all wonderful old and new traditions, heartwarming food, lots of love and family reunions.

From the sea,

Renate.

Dec/19/2010

Subject: Living with Avery, Sola, Meghan and Micki

Date: Sunday Dec 19, 2010

Dear friends and family,

I am still in Cabo Pulmo and have stayed with Avery and his fiance Sola as well as his two house guests Meghan and Micki since last Tuesday.  In fact, Meghan is writing this blog entry for me.  In fact, she managed to insert the mermaid into the signature below, something I have tried to do for a long time, since my original web master eliminated it along with the original website.

Cabo Pulmo has the only living coral reef in North America.  It extends out for about a mile and has seven fingers.  This coral reef is unique and if the development that is proposed to go up, only a few miles north, it will most likely die within a year.  It took twenty five thousand years to grow to its present state.  It would be a crime against nature for the Mexican government to allow this huge proposed development to go through, that would equal Cancun in size, entail three golf courses, thirty three thousand employees, several thousand homes, and a huge desalinization plant.  This is the desert, after all, and there would not be water from any other source except for the ocean.  However, a desalinization plant would return water to the ocean that is much higher in saline content than the ocean itself.  It would also be higher in temperature than the ocean into which it would be returned.  Coral is exquisitely sensitive to temperature and chemical changes and this would surely spell a major disaster to the reef.  Given that only fifty percent of the world’s corals are still alive at this point and that corals worldwide are dying at an unprecedented rate, it seems unbelievable that the Mexican government is even reconsidering reopening negotiations that have been temporarily put on hold.  Sadly all levels of the Mexican government are corrupt and money is really the only determinant of most decisions taken.

I have been trying really hard to convince the community that the threat they are facing is very real and would entail not only the loss of the coral reef but also their employment.  Most of the community lives from tourism, including three dive shops, five restaurants, and a few rental bungalows.  If there is nothing to see because the coral reef has been destroyed by Cabo Cortez, the name of the proposed mega development, the local community likely would have to work for extremely low wages at Cabo Cortez to survive.  Currently the community is self supporting and making good living wages.  This would all change for the worse.

Supposedly there are petitions in every business to stop the proposed development, however I have not seen this petition in any public place and have talked about it endlessly.  This level of apathy is very disturbing to me.  It is if as people were not aware how imminent and dire the threat to their lives actually is and that only direct action might prevent the development plans to go through.

As so often, HANSA, the Spanish Multinational Corporation financing this project Cabo Cortez, confuses the community with different types of information regarding the project.  Some people think it’s going ahead now, others are sure it will never happen.  Between these two poles are various other opinions making it difficult for people to unite and make a plan of action.  For instance, something as simple as a petition that every business could prominently display is not available in the local businesses here.  You can sign it online, dear reader, right now.

www.cabopulmovivo.org

If every business that received visitors solicited signatures, a minimum of a hundred signatures could be collected everyday in Cabo Pulmo.  This would be seven hundred in a week, twenty eight hundred in a month and ten thousand in less than four months.  Real hand written signatures are far more valuable and effective than emailed petitions and there are less than eight thousand of those right now.  I am greatly saddened by this passivity of the community.  It would be so little effort for so many numbers, and petitions are only effective when they are massive.  Sometimes I feel like tearing my hair out – tomorrow I am planning to take petition sheets to every single business in town, assuming that I can find copies.  Of course I can’t control if the businesses will prominently display them.  I know most tourists will gladly sign them,  because it is so very little effort on their part and a little thank you to the coral reef they have had the pleasure to explore.

I have decided to spend the remainder of my Mexican days in Cabo Pulmo since I have received such a sweet invitation from Avery and Sola.   Avery is very interested in preparing a swim/kayak/bicycle project using no fossil fuels beginning in May 2011.  It would be such a relief to have somebody else take care of the logistics.  Of course, I will swim anywhere I am called to and where the swim will make a difference to our ocean’s survival.

It has been very difficult to find boat support here since the dive and snorkel businesses would rather wait for walk-in tourists even if it means loss of business for the day.  So I am swimming, exploring the coral reef, and looking on up to ten boats on the beach, every one of which I would have liked to hire on that day.  Of course I cannot compete with the kind of money a full load of divers would bring in.  On the other hand when the boat is just sitting there it is not producing any income and at least I could support them in some way.

If this was my very first big swim, I would never do another one.  It would simply be too painful and depressing to struggle so much and find so little on-water support.  It is really nice to stay with family rather than in a hotel.  I realize I get really lonely on these swims and it is so good to be able to converse with people with similar interests.

In case I am not able to write again before the solstice, I wish you all a deeply satisfying full moon and winter solstice.  May it bring you peace and inspiration to contribute positively to the health of our oceans.

Dec/17/2010

Dear friends and family,
today was one of the most amazing days of my entire oceangoing career.
Since it has been impossible finding adequate boat support here in Cabo Pulmo, and since I have wonderful accommodation here with a lovely family, I decided to take advantage of the amazing coral reef and just swim out there by myself and explore the many kilometers of this world heritage site and the five fingers of the reef.
Way offshore, several km to the beach, I noticed first a small nurse shark and was delighted to finally on this migration get to see one close up. Shortly after, much larger ones joined and began circling me. Within a short while, I noticed several bull sharks closing in in me, and then a tiger shark almost went nose to nose with me – my first ever encounter with a 4 m tiger shark! This amazing encounter lasted a full half hour, when Avery, my host, showed up in a kayak. I was rather pleased to see him, even though it was a truly stunning experience to be so close to so many large predators, and feel so little fear. Actually, it was an exhilarating experience, and enormously liberating. I felt so honored to finally be so close to these magnificent beings that are so terribly hunted, almost to extinction.
Alas, this computer is being shut down, so I must close for today. Much love to all of you who read this!

Dec/10/2010

CABO PULMO MARINE PARK, 10/DECEMBER/2010

DEAR FRIENDS AND FAMILY,
TODAY I GOT A RIDE TO CABO PULMO, A REMOTE FORMER FISHING VILLAGE WITH NORTH AMERICA’S LARGEST LIVING CORAL REEF. I WILL BE USING THIS BASE FOR 4 OR 5 DAYS, HOPING FOR BOAT SUPPORT IN THIS REMOTE AREA AND A CHANCE TO SPEAK TO THE COMMUNITY AND HEAR THEIR CONCERNS. THIS IS A HEAVILY ENFORCED PROTECTED PARK, BUT THE COMMUNITY HAS NOT RECEIVED THE NECESSARY EDUCATION TO UNDERSTAND THE NEED FOR EXTREME PROTECTION OF THIS FRAGILE AREA. SO ILLEGAL FISHING CONTINUES, EVEN AT NIGHT WHEN GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS ARE COZY IN THEIR BEDS, AND THE FISHING IS BEST. UNFORTUNATELY, I CAN NOT HOPE FOR CONANP SUPPORT THIS TIME, AND DEPEND ENTIRELY ON THE COMMUNITY TO SUPPLY ME WITH A SUPPORT BOAT DURING MY SWIM DAYS HERE.
PALMAS DE CORTEZ, MY LAST HOTEL AND BOAT SPONSOR, HAS BEEN INCREDIBLY GENEROUS WITH ME, IN GIVING ME 5 DAYS OF FULL BOAT SUPPORT AND 6 NIGHTS OF A LOVELY ROOM AND ALL THE MEALS DURING MY TIME THERE. THE STAFF WAS SO SWEET TO ME, LIZET WROTE ALL MY BLG ENTRIES WHILE I WAS THERE, SAVING ME FROM PAINFUL WRITING. I AM BACK TO HAVING TO DO IT MYSELF FOR NOW.
YESTERDAY WAS ONE OF THE TOUGHER SWIM DAYS DUE TO THE FALLING TEMPERATURES – 21 CELSIUS  – AND THE LACK OF THINGS TO SEE ALONG THE 7 HOURS OF SWIM YESTERDAY, AND THE STRONG CURRENTS NOT IN MY FAVOR. BUT IT BROUGHT ME TO 300 KM SWUM SO FAR, IN SPITE OF ALL THE PROBLEMS I HAD WITH GOVERNMENT AND OTHER FAILURES…
TOMORROW I WILL DIVE WITH CABO PULMO WATERSPORTS, AND SWIM IN THE AFTERNOON.
CABO PULMO DIVERS IS SPONSORING THE BUNGALOW WHERE I WILL STAY FOR A FEW DAYS. SEEING OLD FRIENDS FROM LAST YEAR IS SO WONDERFUL, ESPECIALLY THE STAFF AT WATERSPORTS WHERE I AM WRITING THIS NOW!

Date 12/08/2010
Queridos amigos y amigas del mar y de la tierra,
Durante mi nado de hoy encontre una grande red abandonada ya desde mucho tiempo. No se la razon porque el pescador la abandono pero se que esto causa dolor y muerte a los peces  que no pueden salirse de una red ya abandonada. Nos tomo una media hora quitandola del mar y yo  misma experimente el sentido de panico cuando me enrede yo misma en esta red con mis aletas. No fue facil cortar la red por su material duro y mi capitan Jesus tambien tuvo que bajarse para ayudar a cortar la red. Fue la primera vez que en mis travesias encontre una red abandonada y me entristece el aparente egoismo del pescador que ni penso en el sufrimiento que esta causando.
La primera parte de hoy nade otra vez en bellisimos cañones llenos de coral de los cuales unos 90% estaban en buen estado de salud . Puede ser porque en esta region no hay ninguna casa ni desarrollo en la costa porque hay mucha piedra, son cerros altos. Esperamos que nunca se desarrolle esta zona porque seria el fin de este bellisimo campo y cañones de coral. Lizet que me esta escribiendo esto otra vez nunca en su vida ha visto corales porque nunca en su vida ha ido a snorquelear. Esperamos que cuando ella tiene chance  de ir todavia esten los corales…
Parece que el rito de pasaje maritimo este fin de semana no es cierto que va a ocurrir. La mama de las jovenes parece que no tiene las cosas bien organizadas y ni me llamo ayer para indicarme su situacion real. Es muy dificil cuando la gente no te comunica cuando se cambian cosas. Yo necesito depender en la palabra de la gente que quiere aprender de mi y siento que hay una falta de respeto cuando no hay comunicacion y la persona es dejada sin la libertad de poder arreglar otra cosa. En mis travesias esto es lo mas frustrante.
El puro nado es cansado por cierto. Hoy especialmente fue mas que cansado porque nuestra hielera llego sin agua o bebidas y tuvimos que cuidar lo poco que tuvimos en la lancha de ayer. La deshidratacion es el peligro mas alto de la travesia a nado. De mas que 3300 km nadados se que el tomar agua cada 30 minutos es que te cuida de prevenir deshidratacion. Cuando ya llega la deshidratacion llega tambien un cansancio enorme y un dolor de cabeza. Mi capitan realmente me dejo casi toda el agua, me dio pena porque yo se que el tambien necesita hidratarse. Jesus ha sido un sueño para trabajar con el, siempre alegre, siempre servicial, y le voy a extrañar mucho y me dijo el que el tambien va a extrañarme. Siempre me gusta estar con el mismo capitan los mas dias posibles, especialmente si se trata de alguien tan amigable como el. Este hotel me ha tratado realmente como reina y estoy extremadamente agradecida por estos dias y noches.

Date 12/08/2010

Dear friends and family,
Once again I have the great fortune to have Lizet, the lovely receptionist at Palmas de Cortez typing this for me. I noticed that when I so much as type five or six letters on a computer the tendinitis acts up and it feels like having little arrows shot into my upper arms. So it’s really wonderful when I find help for typing these blog blog entries.
Today the owner Mr. Robert Vanwormer of this beautiful hotel passed away and people have been coming all evening to pay their last respects. More flowers wreaths are delivered as the hours go by and there is an open  casket to view the deceased owner of this marvelous hotel. It is so different from Canadian funerals that are brief and rarely have the body present. I wonder how I will sleep tonight with people coming and going and perhaps a spirit not quite sure yet where to go!
This morning I decided to retake the most beautiful part of the swim to finally do some filming. Today it was clear even though there was quite a bit of wind. The few kilometers north  of Bahia de los Sueños are truly dreamlike. There are countless canyons, many of them filled with corals, crisscrossing the ocean floor. To swim above this is like gliding slowly over the Grand Canyon. It’s a wonderful and strange combination of swiming and  flying in slow motion and reminds me of a short story of Franz Kafka, ¨der Kuebelreiter¨.
This goes on for miles and miles and is one of the most extraordinary places on earth. Strangely, this area is not protected, nor part of a park. I find it far more beautiful than Cabo Pulmo Park which in part looks like a coral cemetery to me. So much of the coral there is dying or has died. If the two Marinas, Cabo Cortez and Cabo Riviera will be built, it will spell the end of Cabo Pulmo, a world heritage site. It will be remembered then as having been too small, too late and too little comprehensive in order to be able to sustain itself. Small marine sanctuaries all run the same risk: Coastal development nearby can destroy what has taken often  thousands of years to build like coral reefs. I have even heard from my boat captain that the Island Cerralvo that I have assumed to be a park has just been sold to a gold mine development. They want to lay a pipe underground to the Island to search for gold.This would most likely destroy my favorite part of the swim, today’s marvelous coral canyons. The only other place I have ever been to that compares to the coral canyons is the Red Sea in Egypt, where the corals are still so beautiful as to make you weep into your mask and choke with emotion.
Unfortunately today was only a half day of swimming because of strong winds, and they need to pull the boat out of the water at the end of the day, a procedure that can not be done in turbulent water. I almost cried when Jesus my boat driver announced this to me. To leave such a beautiful place is physically painful to me since it feels like being yanked away from home.
On Thursday evening, after 5 wonderful days here, I’m going to give a presentation in San Jose to two schools, and on Friday, Saturday and Sunday I will give my first marine rite of passage in Mexico to four fifteen year old girls, camping on Isla Cerralvo.
I’m hugely looking forward to this and envision eventually creating a foundation : Mermaids United for Marine Sanctuaries. MUMS!

Dec/05/2010

Queridos amigos y amigas del mar y de la tierra,

tengo la suerte que la recepcionista Lizet de Hotel Palmas de Cortez donde estoy patrocinada por 4 noches de hotel y 3 dias de lancha de apoyo me esta escribiendo este blog.
Hoy fue uno de mis dias mas raros de esta travesia que he tenido mayores problemas de todos modos.
Una semana antes una mujer me llamo para invitarme a un evento de la lucha en contra del cancer de mama.Supuestamente 3000 personas asistirian a hacer el mas grande liston rosa hasta ahora, un record guiness.Paula Carrera me invito a dar una charla como invitada especial.Como ayer en la noche ya fui invitada, quede mi primera noche en Palmas de Cortez.El jefe de pesca German Cosio, ofrecio a darme un ride a este evento y salimos a las 5:30 del hotel. Esto fue un regalo increible porque el fin de semana el deberia dormir a esta hora una señal de mucho cariño.ya en el lugar del evento la playa de Finisterra yo espere casi por 5 horas.Me habia invitado a dar la charla alrededor de las 8 de la mañana. Cuando yo escuche el anuncio de agradecimiento para los participantes del liston,me di cuenta que ella me habia olvidado.Reconociendo esto senti tanta furia dentro de mi, hoy hubiera sido un buen dia para nadar, como no hubo viento. Yo sacrifico este dia de nado para poder distribuir un mensaje sobre la necesidad de cuidar mas el mar a 3000 personas.Al ultimo momento ya con menos de 50 que quedaron todavia, hable unos pocos minutos.Esto fue algo que fue tan afuera de mi experiencia anterior que ni me hubiera podido imaginar que eso podria pasar.Ni importaba realmente que ella me ofrecio 4000 pesos como contribuir hacia los gastos de mi travesia.Obviamente esto apoya pero adentro de mi yo solamente quise gritar y llorar, por el insulto de lo que me habia pasado , la groseria de haber sido invitado y ni se acordaron de mi.

Ayer fue mi primer dia apoyada por Palmas de Cortez y sali acompañada de una lancha magnifica llamada Rude Boy.Lizet ahora me cuenta que cuando yo llame ayer ninguna persona habia llamado para preparar este apoyo de lancha, pero dos personas me habian dicho que ya todo estaba arreglado con este hotel, incluso un delegado de esta region.
Me siento rodeada de un nivel de incompetencia y falta de compromiso que fue hasta ahora totalmente afuera de mi imaginacion. Lo increible es que este hotel sin saber nada cumpli que nadie otro hasta ahora pudo cumplir:ofrecer patrocinador de apoyo de lancha incluso acomodacion en el mismo lugar, incluso la magnifica comida que estoy disfrutando.Me da esperanza que talvez hay otros en el camino que van a quere apoyarme de esta bella manera.
El nado ayer empezo en la parte extrema norte de la isla Cerralvo.El año pasado nade tambien la parte atras de la isla Ceralvo pero en un viento muy fuerte. Esta vez por falta de viento por haber una belleza indescriptible de corales y peces y piedras de mil colores. Casi me senti viviendo un sueño porque esto duraba horas y adentro de mi senti una tranquilidad enorme de estar en mi casa. Me senti rodeada de los espiritus de mis antepasados inlcuso mis marinos antepasados.
Abruptamente sali de mi sueño marino, cuando me pico una fregata portuguesa, una aguamala extremadamente venenosa. Hubo miles de aguamalas alrededor de mi y la tripulacion de la la lancha tuvo que sacarme del agua para quitarme los hilos y darme la medicina para prevenir un choque alergico. Como hubo millas y millas de aguamalas tuvimos que abandonar el nado de la isla Cerralvo y continuar el nado al sur de bahia de los sueños.Este nombre es correcto. Tambien es un lugar lleno de sueños con corales inumerables y cañones de piedra y coral, peces de todos colores.La tripulacion me dejo nadar hasta las 5 de la tarde, como ya empezamos muy tarde en la mañana por la falta de coordinacion de mi hotel anterior. Al regreso vimos un atardecer espectacular con cada tono de rosa y rojo. Espero meter las fotos pronto!

Nov/28/2010

QUERIDOS AMIGAS Y AMIGOS DEL MAR Y DE LA TIERRA,

HOY ES EL DIA QUE MAS ESPERE PARA PODER NADAR OTRA VEZ, DESPUES DE UNA SEMANA DESESPERADA, INTENTANDO TODO LO QUE ESTUVO A MI ALCANCE, PARA LOGRAR MI OBJETIVO.

EN ESTE MOMENTO, ESTOY ESPERANDO EN UN BELLO HOTEL LLAMADO EL ENCANTO INN.

EL PLAN REALMENTE FUE IR ANOCHE A LA RIBERA PARA PODER METERME CON MI FAMILIA EN EL MAR  ESTA MANANA MUY TEMPRANO.

CASI DUELE EN MIS HUESOS ESTAR TAN LEJOS DE MI FAMILIA MAS CERCANA QUE TENGO EN ESTE MUNDO.

ES UN ANHELO TAN PROFUNDO Y TAN INEXPLICABLE A LOS SERES HUMANOS TERRESTRES QUE ME SIENTO MAS QUE DESESPERADA EL NO PODER COMUNICARME DE QUE SE TRATA REALMENTE MIS TRAVESIAS AL NADO, EN LAS QUE ME UNO CON MI FAMILIA MIGRATORIA QUE SON LAS BALLENAS GRISES, LAS BALLENAS COROVADAS, LAS TORTUGAS, Y LOS SALMONES.

YO CREO QUE ESE SENTIDO INTERIOR DE NECESIDAD ABSOLUTA DE JUNTARME A ESAS GRANDES MIGRACIONES  ES ALGO QUE REALMENTE ME SEPARA DEL RESTO DE LA HUMANIDAD. POR ESTA RAZON ME SIENTO UNA PERSONA SOLA.

ESTE TEXTO ME LO ESTA ESCRIBIENDO  MA. DEL CARMEN GOMEZ LICONA, QUIEN SIN  CONOCERME NI SABER NADA DE MI ME TENDIO SU MANO.

ELLA DICE: ” SOLO QUIERO COMPARTIR LO AGRADECIDA QUE ESTOY EN ESTE MOMENTO CON RENATE PORQUE ME ESTA DANDO ESTA GRAN OPORTUNIDAD DE PODER ESTAR AL LADO DE ELLA COMPARTIENDO ESTOS SENTIMIENTOS, QUE PARA ELLA NO ESTAN SIENDO LOS MAS GRATOS EN ESTE MOMENTO, PERO YO ESTOY SEGURA QUE ESTO PASARA Y TODO LE LLEGARA EN SU MOMENTO”.

LA SEMANA DEL MARTES 16 DE NOV. HASTA EL DOMINGO 21 DE NOV. NADE DE PLAYA BALANDRA HASTA  LA ISLA ESPIRITU SANTO, Y  TODO AL REDEDOR DE LA ISLA ESPIRITU SANTO  HASTA PUNTA MEJIA, UNOS 125 KM.

ESTAS 5 NOCHES Y 6 DIAS VIVI EN MI MUNDO NATURAL.

TODOS LOS DIAS, DESPERTE A MIS COMPANEROS FLAVIO Y FELIPE A LAS 5 A.M.  DE LA MANANA .YO MISMA ME DESPERTE A LAS 3.30 A.M. DE LA MANANA, MI TIEMPO REGULAR DE DESPERTARME. SALIENDO DE MI CASA DE ACAMPAR TAN TEMPRANO ME DIO CHANCE DE MIRAR UN CIELO SATURADO DE ESTRELLAS, BRILLANTE CON TODO SU EXPLENDOR.

ESTA SEMANA FUE EXACTAMENTE COMO YO HE QUERIDO HACER MI TRAVESIA ASI. EN VERDAD, ESTAR EN MI CASITA DE ACAMPAR ME LLENA EL CORAZON MAS QUE ESTAR EN HOTELES DE 5 ESTRELLAS. ACA ESTOY UNIDA CON LA MADRE TIERRA, EL CIELO Y EL MAR, Y TODOS LOS RUIDOS VIENEN DEL VIENTO Y DE LOS ANIMALES QUE ME RODEAN.

ESTA MANERA DE MOVERME DURANTE LA TRAVESIA ES MUY HARMONIOSA Y ORGANICA. NO HAY NADA PARA MI QUE NO SEA AGRADABLE, EN ESTE TRABAJO DESDE ESTABLECER EL CAMPAMIENTO DONDE VOY A PASAR LA NOCHE Y HASTA METIENDO TODAS LAS COSAS EN LA LANCHA PARA CONTINUAR EN LA MADRUGADA.

EN ESTE MOMENTO VAMOS A SALIR LA SRA. ALICIA MANRIQUEZ DE COTA Y MA. DEL CARMEN GOMEZ LICONA Y YO RUMBO A LA RIBERA .

LA SRA. ALICIA Y YO NOS CONOCIMOS EN UNA CONFERENCIA DE RENE MEY, EN LA PAZ B.C. EL DIA 25  DE NOV. EN EL CUMPLEANOS DE MI HIJO SILVAN. DURANTE ESA CONFERENCIA ELLA ME PLATICO QUE VIVIA EN SAN JOSE DEL CABO Y COMO RENE ME INVITO A FORMAR PARTE DE SU CONFERENCIA EN CABO SAN LUCAS ELLA LINDAMENTE SE OFRECIO DE TRAERME EN SU COCHE PARA QUE YO ME TRASLADARA A CABO SAN LUCAS. LLEGE  A LA CASA DE SUS HIJOS EDUARDO CORTEZ MENDEZ Y MAYRA IDALID COTA MANRIQUEZ, QUIENES NOS RECIBIERON CON UNA MUY RICA COMIDA. QUEDAMOS A PASAR LA NOCHE EN CABO SAN LUCAS CON ELLOS PARA PODER HABLAR NUEVAMENTE EN LA CONFERENCIA DE RENE MEY EN SAN JOSE DEL CABO. HA SIDO UN GRAN HONOR HABER  SIDO INVITADA POR  PARTE DE RENE MEY PARA COMPARTIR EN EL ESCENARIO  Y PODER HABLAR SOBRE LA META DE MI TRAVESIA.

YO ESTOY MUY AGRADECIDA POR HABER CONOCIDO A ALICIA PORQUE ELLA ME INTRODUJO A MUCHA GENTE IMPORTANTE COMO LA SRA. OLIVIA PEDRIL, BLANCA PEDRIL QUE ES DUENA DE ESTE HERMOSO HOTEL LLAMADO EL ENCANTO DONDE ME PATROCINO LA NOCHE DEL 27 DE NOV.  INCLUSO TODAS MIS LLAMADAS .

YO INVITO A TODAS LAS PERSONAS QUE VIAJEN A SAN JOSE DEL CABO, QUE CONOZCAN ESTE PRECIOSO HOTEL.

Nov/22/2010

Dear friends,

The last 6 days were heavenly, away from society, lies and false promises, and I got to swim all around the ethereal and beautiful Isla Espiritu Santo and part of the coast towards Cabo San Lucas.

The fisherman Mario Winkler refused to honor the contract we had laboriously worked out, and demanded more money at the last minute. I had waited for 4 days for him to be available, and once again, I found myself lied to and having wasted my time when every day means falling temperatures on land and in the sea.

In the end, I used the same company I used last year, Punta Baja, at 50$ more per day than last year when I was charged 100$ per day, an excellent price.  However, I really had no choice but to go ahead with this, and I at least knew the company to be reliable. In fact, the owner Martin Flores has invited me to be their house guest, something I really appreciate.

I had the good fortune to be accompanied by a wonderful volunteer, Flavio Lau, who cooked for me, loaded the boat and unloaded the boat, and took care of all the other myriad details while on route. Thank you, Flavio  – it was really heartening to have you along, always with a smile, willing to get up at 5 am every single day for 6 days, and all of this with such generosity of spirit. It was a pleasure working with you.

Unfortunately, I am back to the drawing board once again – tomorrow I will go to the governor of the state, accompanied by a museum employee who has worked there in the past. Lets hope this will help…

As always, the greatest danger to me while swimming are the countless jellyfish – they just love every inch of exposed flesh. Flavio lent me his neoprene, the water is getting quite cold  and I was actually slightly hypothermic before I started using his wetsuit. This was an enormously generous gesture – it is such personal gear.

The ephemeral beauty of the sea around the island touched my heart  – but even there, half of the coral I saw last year is dead, due to invasive algae and, I assume, global warming of the ocean, and chemical contamination. This island is protected, but what is really needed is protection of the entire Golf of California, the whole sea of Cortes.

While camping, I saw the most fantastic comet streaking the sky, speeding along the horizon and leaving a huge tail of light in its wake. it was an incredible sight – who knows what it really was?

I took it as a personal gift of the sky, a miraculous sign of hope and brilliant light.

Nov/14/2010

Dear Friends,

My new friend John Wright is writing this entry for me as we are watching another beautiful sunset over the bay of La Paz.

Things have changed dramatically since I last wrote.  In fact, they have changed dramatically enough for me to not be able to breathe.

After a beautiful press conference last Wednesday, at which all of the local press and some national press was present, I was invited to a meeting with the mayor of La Paz, Rosa Delia Cota Montano.  Again, we were interviewed by the press, and you can see this interview now on Youtube.
She offered full support on behalf of the Municipality, and immediately began making phone calls to set this in motion.  She arranged for FONMAR to give me boat support and we had already arranged for boat support for the navy on the remaining days.  I was very pleased with how the meeting went, and the warmth I felt coming from her.  I trusted her word.  I think because I am a woman, she was particularly interested in supporting me.

Later that day, there was a meeting with all the very important government functionaries who were helping to coordinate this: The director for the Secretary of Tourism, Ricardo Garcia, a FONMAR representative, a high level representative for the Navy, both of the directors for the Municipal Department of Sports, and a fisherman who was hoping to gain paid work.  I was the only woman present.  Throughout most of the meeting,  I could hardly get a word in edgewise.  This was to be a logistics meeting.  A lot of egos were flying through the air, and the actual logistics never got discussed, since no one ever bothered to ask me.  The fisherman spooked the other men with his tales of horrific giant squid which would eat me along the way.  Even when I interjected that my chances of being run over by a car in the road were probably at least a billion times higher than having an inopportune encounter with a squid, no one appeared to want to listen to me.  After all, I was just a woman, and they were all men!  Ricardo Garcia let me know in no uncertain terms that this was no longer just a private swim, it was official government business, and I had to follow their rules- which included coming back to town every night from my daily swim around the Espiritu Santo island, since I couldn’t possibly be left alone to camp.  Until then I had been left in the belief that I would actually be sleeping aboard the navy boat.
No one had bothered to inform me that this was not the case, even though I had made many calls to find out the real logistics behind my navy-supported swim.  At the end of the meeting I was left to trust that everything would be taken care of.  The secretary of tourism would look after accommodations along the way, the Navy and FONMAR would share the boat support, and there would be sponsorship for the meals.   Some of this organization would happen while I was actually swimming, since it would involve 3 whole weeks, and therefore give everyone plenty of time to see the event through.

At the end of the meeting, I felt shaken and invisible.  This didn’t seem to be about the needs of the swimmer at all.  It seemed to be about a lot of men deciding things, barely aware that the daily marathon would be executed by the lone woman in the room.  I was shaken enough to ask the female secretary of the sports department to give me a long hug, and let me have a cry on her shoulder.

The next morning I went to the take-off site at 6:00am to find out that the two young mariners on the navy support boat were inefficiently equipped.  I always run my crew through a checklist before I start.  I visually inspect the amount of gas on the boat, I visually inspect the first-aid kit, I visually inspect the ladder for me to get on board, and I check for ores in the case of a boat break-down.  I also make sure there is sufficient drinking water for everyone on board.  The only item which was satisfactory was the gas on board.  After so many negotiations with the Navy commander about safety, I was sorely disappointed that the lovely young crew (Efrain & Juan Carlos) were not properly looked after.  The commander had even stated that I could not access their first aid kit, water supply, or anything they brought on board, which kind of makes the whole idea of boat safety irrelevant. The 2 young men treated me like gold all day.  They surely shared whatever was needed, including jokes, smiles and laughter, sometimes the most important ingredients on a long, long day of swimming hour after hour.

Since I was not sure what time we were leaving the next day, I stopped in the Navy office to verify departure time.  It became clear that something was seriously amiss.  While I waited for my appointment with the commander- this after a 9 hour and 25 km swim, and totally exhausted, cold, wet and hungry- I fell asleep.   When the commander ordered me to his office, he seemed totally unaware of my physical state, and the fact that I was still in a towel and shaking.  He did not offer so much as a glass of water, or turn down the air conditioning.  His only concern was about who he could talk to, since I clearly wasn’t the right person.  All the other people had said somebody else was the right person.  So apparently, nobody was the right person.  Therefore I could no longer expect boat support from the Navy.  After all, I did not have a man behind me, who would speak for me and take complete responsibility and control of me.  The fact that I said I was quite happy to be responsible for myself, and had managed to swim altogether 3065 km without any man behind me whatsoever, did not pull any weight with him.  I felt like I was in Saudi Arabia.

One of the 2 young crew, Efrain,  drove me home.  He promised to pick me up the next morning, and even though I had the impression my swim for the time was over, I decided to go with him just in case I could continue.  He did a no-show.  I was too disheartened to transport myself there alone.  After several phone calls, it appeared that every one of these very powerful men had pulled out after the media had been informed of their generous support.

I felt like I had been used for political purposes that I could not understand.  One thing is certain- I now know in the flesh and blood what green-washing is.  It had been very convenient for everyone to be seen supporting an environmental activist.  It looks good, especially in the international media.  When I accused Salvador Gutierrez, one of the directors of the Sports Department of betraying me, he was quite upset, and said he had fulfilled his mandate.  He had arranged for the press conference.  The fact that his name appears in the official bulletin as the General Coordinator of the event, i.e. the swim, did not phase him at all. He seemed to think the press conference was the event.  Everyone pointed fingers at everyone else, accusing them of not fulfilling the mandate.  In all of this, I was left high and dry and quite out of the water.  What affected me the most was that Salvador Gutierrez insisted on being filmed on TV while making his ceremonial commitment to no longer eat prawns from shrimpers while I attached a string to his wrist.  Not even one day later, he had cut it off.  I use very strong string for the ceremony- I do it in all the schools I visit along my swim routes with the children who volunteer for this activity- and this is the heart of my mission.  I take these commitments very seriously, and I assume they do, too.  This is not something to toy with, and I feel I was played with in this instance.  This swim carries the title “The Sea is Sacred”.  Promises are sacred, too.  What happened to me shows me that on an official, governmental level, the promises made to me had absolutely no meaning at all.  I would like to give a copy of the book The Four Agreements, by Mexican author Miguel Ruiz, to everyone who broke their own agreements.  The first agreement is: “Be impeccable with your word”.

In my future workshops, the commitment aspect will be even more stressed, after this devastating experience.  I actually expect more from kindergarten children than what has just happened to me.  Obviously the state of our oceans is connected with this kind of attitude.

The situation of the world ocean is really critical right now, and unless everyone reduces their use of natural resources, we might be facing a situation fairly soon that will risk all life on earth.  As it is, every half hour another species goes extinct.   This 6^th mass extinction on planet earth is the only one ever caused by humans, and it has been millions of years since the 5^th.

Because of this, I feel that I cannot wait.  My mission will go on with or without government support.  In fact, it even surprised me that this government was even willing to take this on, and of course, I was immensely pleased.  Alas, it’s back to the drawing board now.

On Tuesday morning, if all goes well, and no other promises are broken, I plan to start the swim again, accompanied by a local fisherman.  I still hope for some support in the Los Cabos region, but I won’t hold my breath.

Thanks to my very generous Canadian sponsor, Dawne Deeley, I have $1500 dollars per month to spend on boat support.  Once this is gone, I have to dig into my own back pocket.

Today I changed houses.  Joel Abaroa, my host of the last 18 days, and his family have been very kind and generous to me.  It is time for them to have their own space back.  Now I’m staying at a very humble place, and because food is no longer provided, I had to go out to eat, and this is how I met Sol, a beautiful coffee shop owner, who carries a majestic and loving presence.

It always amazes me how many good things can happen if you just step out of the house and show up where life leads you.

It has once again led me to beautiful people who are trying to help me.

Blessing on all of you who are reading this.  Please make sure to read the Peninsular Digital News where an amazing photograph is published alongside an excellent article, written by Perla Garcia, about my first day’s swim.  In this photograph, the sun is shining a golden heart on my chest.

On my first swim day, I met a beautiful whale shark that swam right into my arms, perhaps attracted by that glorious sun heart, and I got to dance with numerous sea lions and a large manta ray along the way.

Nov/09/2010

Queridos amigos y amigas,

Después de algunos días sin escribir finalmente me encuentro con una señorita que me está apoyando escribiendo esto. Me está doliendo mucho más la tendinitis que tengo en mis dos brazos y no puedo arriesgar la travesía por escribir en el teclado que me causa todo este dolor.

Ella se llama Gabriela Rochin Ojeda y ella es una estudiante de turismo alternativo y fue alumna de mi clase de natación el pasado lunes 8 de noviembre. En las palabras de ella:

“La clase fue muy interesante ya que la señora Renate nos enseño nuevas técnicas y tipos de nado que yo en lo personal no sabia y me sirvieron mucho. Aprendí nuevas formas de nadar y también una canción que venía de África, la canción se llama Yemaya Asesu. La clase fue completamente diferente a la que estoy acostumbrada a tomar diariamente, se me hizo diferente por el hecho de que aprendí mas y nos dio mucha atención personal a cada uno de los alumnos. Note que Renate es una maestra que disfruta de lo que hace y tiene la facilidad de enseñar a la perfección, ella es muy apasionada con lo que hace, se nota que vive para nadar”

Hubo muchos cambios en estos últimos días y la noche pasada casi no pude dormir. Aparentemente hubo un cambio en que la marina ya no quiso acompañarme más que uno o dos días, hoy gracias a la Diosa hubo otro cambio por la ayuda de Salvador Gutiérrez, el subdirector del Departamento de Deportes. Después de una cita con el comandante de la marina las cosas cambiaron otra vez y de nuevo tengo el apoyo para dos semanas de las tres que va a tomar la travesía al mínimo. Estoy extremadamente agradecida con el Señor Gutiérrez y estoy empezando una bonita amistad con él.

Durante este encuentro tan importante, yo estaba dando una clase en Coromuel, una playa muy linda cerca de La Paz. Lamentablemente solamente una alumna fue, pero para mí cada estudiante vale todo mi esfuerzo. Como ella llego a tiempo decidí empezar la clase con ella para respetar su puntualidad. Entonces tuve la chance de tener una clase particular y pude enseñarle la matemática de las corrientes, mareas y olas. También pude enseñarle un poco sobre rescate acuático en mar abierto. Al salir di la instrucción de sacar toda la basura del mar para dejarlo más limpio que antes. A mí me toco la suerte de encontrarme 100 pesos,  un bonito pago del mar para cuidarlo. Esta fue ya mi tercera clase con los alumnos de la Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur “UABCS”. Cada día que estoy en tierra tuve chance de dar clases mínimo una vez al día pero en muchos días doy más clases en diferentes escuelas. Esta meta es tan importante que el nado mismo durante mis travesías!

Hoy en la mañana di una clase en la escuela Montessori del Mar. Encontré a la directora María Eugenia en la playa Caimancito, buscando a una persona para que me cuidara mi bolsa durante mi nado. Salió que ella también es maestra y yo le ofrecí un taller en su escuela. Ella me ofreció un raite para llegar a mi casa después del atardecer que vimos junto con mi amiga Monica, mi vecina anterior el año pasado cuando estuve aquí en La Paz organizando mi primera travesía a nado.

Cuando pregunte a la clase que si habían aprendido, me dijo una muchacha con mucha emoción: “aprendí que nosotros los niños vamos a cambiar el mundo”

El sábado en la noche, me invito la familia Abaroa Valle a una boda de un familiar de ellos y me encanto la ceremonia en la iglesia. Nunca había visto como les ponían el lazo a los novios, fue nuevo para mí y muy emocionante. La cena y la fiesta después me encantaron y la música fue un sueño. La banda toco cumbia y banda. Note que la gente solamente bailaba con su pareja, entonces casi no tuve chance de bailar. Solamente el anfitrión me invito a bailar con él. Toda la gente fue muy alegre y nos quedamos hasta las dos de la mañana! Estoy muy contenta por haber podido vivir esta parte de la cultura Mexicana.

Mañana ya son dos semanas desde mi llegada y estoy extremadamente agradecida a la generosidad de la familia Abaroa Valle. Todos pensábamos que voy a poder salir a mi travesía en pocos días, pero duraba dos semanas la preparación y en buscar apoyo.  Me soportaron ya dos semanas con todo su cariño y perdonarme mis errores culturales que obviamente pasaron. Nunca voy a olvidar mis múltiples conversaciones con la maestra Lourdes y el maestro Joel hasta tarde en la noche, siempre sobre educación y como ser los mejores maestros posible. Me encanta ver tanta pasión para la educación en la casa!

El viernes pasado fui invitada por parte de una estudiante de Biología Marina, Deni Ramirez. Su especialidad es el tiburón ballena y fuimos a medir a Hidalgo, un macho joven de 6.3 metros. Siempre es una experiencia inolvidable compartir el mar con un animal tan apacible que te deja nadar a su lado lentamente. También en la lancha iba la bailarina que había dado un show extraordinario el Día de Muertos en el Teatro de la Ciudad, un baile muy expresivo y simbólico. Lamentablemente yo solo vi una parte porque no había programa y llegue a la mitad de su show. Tanto quise acercarme a ella para aprender más sobre este baile y fue un milagro encontrarla en la misma lancha que yo buscando poder nadar con tiburón ballena!

Ahora entiendo mucho más sobre el simbolismo de este baile que mostraba un encuentro con el dios de la muerte náhuatl y una mujer que al final entrega su corazón (fue un corazón real de una vaca) .

El próximo día, el sábado, fui con un grupo de estudiantes al Mogote, un archipiélago con manglares y mucha arena. Por las corrientes fuertes tuve chance de enseñar a los jóvenes sobre autorescate en corrientes marinas, estos estudiantes fueron muy curiosos y aprendieron rápidamente. Les enseñe un símbolo náhuatl para escribir en la arena antes de nadar, una forma de pedir permiso al mar antes de meterse. Les gusto muchísimo y pusieron ese símbolo en toda la arena de la playa, un circulo con una cruz adentro representando las cuatro direcciones. Me preguntaron si a ellos les pasaría algo malo si el mar se llevara el símbolo. Yo les dije que el mar tiene que llevarse el símbolo como respuesta para que se metieran al agua. Esto también es parte de la enseñanza de autorescate.

El domingo fui invitada por Monica a ver una película que me impresiono mucho. Se llama “Mas Allá de La Luz” y se trata de un curandero, Rene Mey que puso centros de prevención de salud en todo México. El amor de este hombre fue palpable mismo en la película personificado por un actor extremadamente talentoso.

Nov/03/2010 Apoyo de parte de la marina

Hoy tengo la suerte que escriba el texto Joel Abaroa Valle, el hijo de mi anfitrion.

Parece que la travesía va empezando con apoyo directo de la marina de La Paz.

Es mi primera vez en tener apoyo de la parte militar y es algo que nunca me hubiera podido imaginar ni en mis mas grandes sueños.

Primeramente fui con el profesor Salvador Vargas a visitar al direcctor de deporte y recreaciòn el Señor Guillermo Antonio Godoy Cota para buscar apoyo, despues fuimos a ver al comandante de la marina que me prometio apoyo de la marina con embarcaciones para acompañarme en gran parte de la travecia de La Paz a Cabo San Lucas.

En la tarde fui otra vez a dar clases en la escuela Rosendo Robles donde mi anfitrion es el director. Siempre me da mucho placer ver la curiosidad de los jovenes.

Ya casi saliendo de la escuela  hable con un estudiante queriendo saber que aprendio durante mi clase. Me emociono mucho la respuesta : dijo que es importante seguir sus sueños y es importante tener un sueño.

Mañana voy a dar algunas clases en la universidad en educacion física de como serian clases de natacion. Todas mis clases son diferentes y busco mis materiales desde la necesidad de los estudiantes. Yo misma nunca se de que voy a hablar y siempre es nuevo para mi tambien. Cada dia aprendo nuevas cosas sobre el mar y es importante comunicar el placer del aprendisaje y la curiosidad constante de conocer mas del mar.

Ayer tuve chance de nadar un rato pero lamentablemente no me acompañaba en el agua Carolina. Quise tanto enseñarle un poco de ese mundo que para mi es magico pero uno no puede forzarlo. Me gustaria meter a todo el mundo al mar par que experimentaran lo que yo siento cuando estoy en el mar. Es dificil para mi entender que el mar no encanta a todas las personas porque al momento que yo me meto yo soy libre de los dolores que me acompañan en la tierra. Como hoy me fue imposible ir a nadar por el trabajo me duele todo. Los posefectos de la trombosis nunca me dejan sola ni un solo dia. Si nado minimo una hora diario me siento bien pero sin esto no hay escape del dolor y de la hinchazón lo mismo con medias compresivas.

La Paz hoy se metio en una orgia de comida con un Guinness world record del burro mas largo del mundo. Lamentablemente fue llenado de tiburón cazón que era el ingrediente principal de la machaca (machaca es pescado seco revuelto con verduras y condimentos). Me imagino que la gente que se lo comió no sabia que estaba comiendo tiburones. 90% de los tiburones del mundo desaparecieron por la avaricia del hombre y hoy me imagino que murieron una grande cantidad de tiburones en la toneladas de comida para el burrito que fue de mas de 2 km de longitud. Falta mucho en la educación del publico de su efecto sobre el mundo marino  que ya no aguanta  tanta explotación.

Nov/01/2010 Encuentro con Jhosue Uri

Queridos amigos y amigas,

Hoy es el día de los muertos. Aqui en México es un día muy importante y en la pura mañana fui invitada a acompañar a mi anfitriona Lourdes Valle al panteón para limpiar la tumba de sus familiares. Como las tumbas en Canada y Alemania son echas de pasto ni me pude imaginar como íbamos a limpiarlas. Pero aqui las tumbas son echas de cemento u otros materiales de piedra es fácil lavarlos con agua.

Después de esto tuve un desayuno organizado por Jhosue Uri, un profesor de la Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur (UABCS). Estamos organizando una conferencia de prensa y la logística en todo el camino. Jhosue me regalo 5 horas de su día incluso en su oficina para avanzar la travesía, un regalo de timepo altamente apreciado.

Anoche fui con Carolina Abaroa, que amablemente esta escribiendo estos blogs durante mi tiempo como huésped en su casa, y también quien me esta prestando su cuarto para noches muy cómodas, al teatro municipal para algunos shows sobre el día de los muertos. Las fotos que acompañan este blog son de este evento maravilloso, especialmente las Catrinas, muchachas en vestidos magníficos pintadas como calaveras.

Ahora en la mañana me conecte con el nuevo director de Yemaya Oceánica, una organización ambientalista del mar, la sola que se dedica a la protección del tiburón en México. Me sentí muy bien recibida y espero una fuerte colaboración con esta organización que trae el nombre de la poderosa Diosa Africana del mar. En cada taller que enseño los niños aprenden una canción de invocación hacia Yemaya quien es también Nuestra Señora del Mar.

Oct/31/2010

Hace dos noches mi anfitrión Joel Abaroa escuchaba la radio cuando promocionaron un evento en la Universidad con la famosa bióloga marina Sylvia Earle. Ya había considerado seguir la invitación a un reto con una maestra de la escuela Rosendo Robles pero la chance de finalmente encontrar una gran heroína para mi me hizo cambiar de planes. Me sorprendí mucho que en la sala en donde ella dio su platica estaba casi vacía con tal vez 30 personas presentes. Yo traduje para Joel porque lamentablemente no hubo traducción oficial para los estudiantes que probablemente no entendieron toda la platica. Me alegro mucho que el contenido de la platica fue muy similar a la que yo doy en las escuelas durante mis travesías y pedí a Sylvia Earle que me dejara usar sus imágenes en mis platicas. Ella me regalo un disco con las imágenes y espero usarlas en cada una de mis platicas. También, ella me invito a acompañarla en una excursión hacia la isla Espíritu Santo y ese fue un día que nunca olvidare. Ibamos en un yate magnifico y tuvimos chance de ver unas esculturas enfrente del candelero a unos 10 metros bajo la superficie con un escrito de un monje jesuita sobre Atlantis. Fue un enorme placer bucear junto con Sylvia Earle, algo que nunca hubiera podido soñar.

También tuve chance de encontrar a Gerardo Lozano, un abogado de Mexico D.F quien me prometio apoyo de lancha durante la travesía desde el Tecolote hasta Cabo San Lucas. Esto es un regalo enorme. El plan de salir en esta parte de la travesía es el 18 de Noviembre. El apoyo de lanchas siempre es la parte mas complicada de organizar y estoy muy feliz de poder contar con este apoyo.

El lunes en la mañana voy a tener mi primera conferencia de prensa organizada por un profesor del Tecnológico, Jhosue Uri.

En este momento nos estamos preparando para ir a liberar tortugas a Todos Santos con los estudiantes de la escuela Rosendo Robles y probablemente voy a poder dar una pequeña charla en esta ocasión .

Oct/29/2010

Queridos amigos,

Hoy tuve el chance de enseñar todo el día en la escuela Rosendo Robles donde mi anfitrión, Joel Abaroa esta de director. Me emocione mucho al ser abrazada de tantos jóvenes que se acordaron de mi del año pasado. Hasta recordaron la canción que enseñe el año pasado! Es la primera vez que regreso en la misma escuela en dos años seguidos durante mis travesías y asi se puede seguir acompañando un poco a los jóvenes. Ellos quisieron repetir mucho el ritual de los brazaletes de compromiso y entonces ahora ya andan muchos jóvenes con los brazaletes en sus muñecas. Espero que estos compromisos sean reales y que los vayan cumpliendo incluso los dos maestros! Me pidieron que yo también me comprometiera con un brazalete y mi compromiso es dar el máximo de talleres que pueda en donde toca mi travesía y que puedan causar cambios reales para el bienestar de nuestros mares.

En la tarde tuve chance de nadar un rato por primera vez desde mi llegada, buscando patrocinadores en Pichilingue.

Para la primera parte de la travesía, ya tengo un patrocinador, la compañía Mar y Aventura. Me iran acompañando con kayaks para la circumnatacion de la isla Espiritu Santo en las fechas del 11 de Noviembre hasta el 16 de Noviembre. Todavía estoy buscando apoyo para el nado de Tecolote hasta Cabo San Lucas. En los días que no nado voy a dar talleres en todas las universidades y colegios aquí en La Paz y también durante la travesía misma en las bases durante la travesía.

Hoy y en los días siguientes se encontraran políticos de 193 países en Japón para decidir sobre un plan de meter 20%  de la tierra y de los mares en protección permanente antes de 2020. Es un plan ambicioso y extremadamente urgente. Yo espero que se atrevan esos gobiernos para rescatar al mar sufriendo y a la tierra ahogando de nuestros abusos. El tiempo es ahora!

Oct/28/2010

Queridos amigos

Después de un largo día de viaje fui recibida en el aeropuerto de La Paz por Joel Abaroa, el maestro y ahora director de la escuela Rosendo Robles. En mi ultima travesía a nado en México el me había invitado a dar conferencias en sus clases y tuve chance de compartir 5 veces con esos jóvenes sobre protección marítima.

Me siento tan bienvenida en la casa de Joel con su amable esposa Lourdes y su hija Carolina (Que me esta escribiendo este blog) y su hijo Joel!  Ayer en la noche fuimos a ver un concierto del pianista David Gomez. Nunca había escuchado la música clasica presentada de esta manera con la luz apagada en la escena!

Como ayer hice un error con la administración de la inyección de heparina-es decir no entro la medicina en mi panza hoy tengo que tomar un día muy relajado para tratar de no empeorar la trombosis anterior. El riesgo de viaje en avión es alto con esta condición especialmente si uno no se inyecta con heparina y tuve que llamar a mi doctor en Canada para ver como aliviar esta condición peligrosa.

Ahora en la noche voy a encontrarme con Sergio de Mar y Aventura para planificar ya el inicio de la travesia. Va a ser la primera ves para mi estar acompañada de 2 kayaks en mi nado y es un poco mas arriesgado porque no va a tener una lancha motorizada para urgencias. Pero me alegra mucho tener chance de hacer una travesia sin usar gasolina que es parte del problema del calentamiento global.

Como Lourdes y Joel trabajan en escuelas espero que tenga chance de dar múltiples talleres y conferencias en las escuelas publicas y particulares de La Paz y así poder tocar las vidas de muchos niños con el mensaje que el mar es nuestra madre, nuestro origen y que necesitamos protegerla.