[NOMADE DES MERS] Low-tech surftrip (3/3) : dreaming of a low-tech life
Date of publication: November 10th, 2020
Writer: Corentin de Chatelperron
Place: onboard Nomade des Mers - Huatulco, Mexique
Hundreds of turtles, dolphins, rays and pelicans cross our path, each one busy to its task. On the horizon, behind the cliffs and virgin beaches, the thick jungle is full of life. At night, under the stars the fluorescent plankton marks our wake like a magic powder. Nomade des Mers traces her path through a wonderful world.
Binoculars around his neck, Damien scans the coast with his expert eye. Sometimes he points to a bay, we anchor there, he goes into the water, disappears, comes back, “no, we’ll find a better spot”. And we move on to the next spot. Until actually we find a better one.
This bay is superb. The anchored catamaran sways gently in the swell. In the mornings we get up before sunrise and paddle to the place where the waves form. We wait, sitting on our boards. The light is soft, the water is warm, the pelicans are skimming the surface with the tips of their wings, the smooth waves roll up and down perfectly, everything is calm and peacefull. I think of nothing. I don’t want to do anything, nothing but stay there. I understand Damien’s passion.
On the boat it’s the opposite. It is animated by a thousand activities. Each crew member is occupied by his role in the ecosystem. While bringing a jar of urine to the bacteria in the biofilter, I pass Caroline who is looking for her equipment to harvest spirulina, she passes Damien who is harvesting sweet potato leaves to feed the crickets, avoiding Guéno who stirs his idli paste before putting it in the solar oven.
The days pass, far from civilization, until it is time for us to leave again. Nomade des Mers returns to land, and we keep in mind these nostalgic images of a life that mixes contemplation and action in an extraordinary landscape. Behind the quest of the waves I think we had another quest. The one of experiencing, for a few days, another way of living on our planet. A life without the usual comfort, demanding, but so intense, simple and pure, immersed in the daily spectacle of wildlife … A low-tech life!
