Q & A - For Patrons Only (part 2)
Added 2016-09-29 11:19:30 +0000 UTCHey everyone!!Here is part two of our Q & A from your questions posted last month. Do you like these Q & A's? As always, we love to hear from you guys so feel free to leave a comment below.
Love Elayna & Riley
Before you read Riley's blog below you need to watch the Q & A above ^^^
TPS Report ***DO NOT READ UNTIL YOU WATCHED THE Q & A***
by Riley Whitelum
I dream about tropical paradise. In my mind it is perfect. It might just be what keeps me moving. I have found a few completely secluded islands that would fit the bill, beaches, isolation for miles, no one at all around, fish, palm trees, excellent anchorages and large enough to spend weeks on land climbing mountains etc, maybe growing a couple of little chickens and making a little shack in a cave with a fire, making love all night long. I should elaborate here on fish. There would need to be a HUGE abundance of lobster and pelagic fish in particular but all are welcome, this is the first consideration for any TPS, a fish abundance. Making a still for alcohol and spearfishing every day, eating off the BBQ and having La Vagabonde sitting in a protected cove where I can swim out and listen to music of an afternoon. This sounds good doesn’t it, apart from one problem. I have learnt on my journey thus far that I am a social person and have a need for challenging and stimulating conversation with groups of human beings. I have found that after a couple of weeks or so it is necessary for ones mental health to re-enter civilisation for this reason. Otherwise something feels like it is missing. There needs to be another place near by then.
So now, interestingly and perhaps paradoxically according to my initial set of parameters, hypothetical destination one or ‘The Perfect Spot’ (TPS) which is the aforementioned tropical paradise now hinges on destination 2 meeting a certain specific set of criteria in order for TPS to gain the actual rank of perfect. I should also mention here that the rank of perfect will also be excluded for inhabited islands. Inhabited being more than 3 people. I<3 = No Bueno.
The criteria for hypothetical destination 2 (HD2) would be less stringent but would need to have a majority of these; cheap, beach bars, fast internet, some but not too many westerners or at least fluent english speaking tourists (cool ones), same goes with hippies some being an excellent edition but too many not being so good, restaurants with healthy food, air-conditioned cafes, vegetarian food, not more than 2 flights with not more than a total flight time of 12 hours to get to Adelaide, Australia. Ideally also Spanish speaking with castles and interesting architecture or history although this is one is not completely necessary. If HD2 was a place that was a good place to hang out in its own right that would remove pressure from the restrictions placed on the original TPS but emphasis should still be placed on TPS and not its subsidiaries.
If it takes 2 weeks for Elayna and I to start feeling like we need to re-enter society I think that TPS would have to be less than 200 miles from HD2 to make travel to and from fortnightly possible and to enable one to not spend more than 4 days sailing out of 14 at a conservative 100nm/day. Some would say that the distance should be reduced to allow less travel time between TPS and HD2; but I do like sailing. I would expect an elongation of time spent away from society as years wore on and solitude became more normal. Pushing out to even 20 days and 4 travel especially as the shack became more of a castle and the chickens produced more eggs.
The problem with various TPS’s throughout history is that people find out about them. Everyone knows this ruins places. Take for example Kuta beach in Bali or Cancun in Mexico. These places are hell on earth now but were once TPS’s. Queues, Mcdonalds, jetskis, price rise, vapid tourists, street walkers. They just end up becoming both unimaginative and completely inauthentic. I realise that neither of these places are islands and therefore are imperfect examples but I believe you catch my drift. This is as obvious and striking a phenomenon as the rubbish that follows.
An equation for TPS destruction:
TPS destruction is equal to the inverse square of the distance from a city multiplied by *
* = the year of discovery. Starting in 1990 for this model.
1990 being 2
1991 therefore being 3
City being a population of over 50,000 and including a KFC and at least one really tacky waterslide.
This appears reductive but I believe represents TPS destruction as well as can be expected given the lack of empirical data available online or in scientific journals. Inserting a population density coefficient that was proportional to a percentage increase in surrounding areas might increase accuracy but this data is yet to be supplied by the relevant countries despite several emails.
Not all spots that gain in popularity initially loose their perfectness, it might take a little while. For a while it can even enhance the vibe of an area. I will wager, however, that how beautiful the scenery, how turquoise the water, pristine the land and protected the bay is will be directly proportional to the numbers in the hoards that arrive in the second wave. So if it took longer to despoil it was probably not quite so beautiful. There are a number of other things that will keep the stampeding hordes away and distance is a good one. Dangerous reputations are fantastic too, I have never been more keen than to explore Venezuela.
I am very happy to come across potential TPS’s on my travels. We try to spend as much time as we can at these places snorkelling and free diving. Living off supplies. This is what I love and had envisaged when purchasing the Yacht. Days slip away, it is magical.
I am hoping that there will be some actual TPS’s in the Pacific that might come close to this mental scenario I have created although the distances between islands are so great there that I may have to re-think this or get a faster boat. I believe that if I found a place that matched up most of the criteria I would think about stopping for a while. I think I would for sure complete the circumnavigation but I would have a definitive location with unchanging GPS co-ordinates that I would think of as a high potential home. I’m sure I could then begin planning the tree house that Elayna so desperately wants. Anyway it is good fun looking for the best place in the world. The search continues.
If anyone knows of such a destination that meets the all/most parameters outlined in the first two paragraphs and would be willing to notify me of it I will be sworn to secrecy and shall pull anchor and set sail immediately, probably joining you there as I imagine that you would probably be there. You’d be crazy not to be. Thank-you in advance you salty legend.
