Science Dork, Part II

So I just watched the Oscar-winning (seriously!) documentary, Kon-Tiki.

For those of you who don't know the story(much abbreviated): in 1947, Thor Heyerdahl (don't you love that name!), an ethnographer (?) from Norway, was studying Polynesian culture. Popular theory was that Polynesians came over from Asia. However, this didn't make sense to Mr. Thor for a number of reasons, so he and a bunch of other adorably-named guys decided to build a traditional balsa-wood raft and sail from Peru (where he figured Polynesians originated) to Polynesia, a distance of... well, a really long way across open ocean.

They took still and film cameras, and documented the entire 101-day trip. Along the way they met dolphin (I think these fish are also called bonita, but they are not the mammal dolphin), whales, sharks (including a whale shark, which surprised me since I thought they only lived in relatively shallow waters), harvested flying fish which beached themselves on the raft, and other sea life. They never saw another ship. The winds and currents took them directly to Polynesia, with almost no interference (steering) from the crew.

The movie was great, in a sort of 1947 halting documentary kind of way. I'd read the book when I was much younger, probably in middle school. Now I want to read it again. I remember being completely fascinated by the description of the flying fish, and of how they lashed the logs together to create this raft. The whole process and trip really was completely captivating. 6 men aboard a small raft, living primarily off the seas, to prove it could be done. They avoided being dashed to death on the coral reefs, and lived to tell the tale.

I mean, how cool is that? Really. I got such a kick watching them scramble around on board, catching fish, hauling sharks up, filming the giant whale shark as it went around and around their raft. I love to think about the details. They made a small bamboo hut for shelter. What did they sleep in? How did they stay dry at night? Did they have sunscreen? Did they need sunscreen then? Did they get cold? Did their skin crack from the salt? What kinds of things did they do all day? (repair, inspect, record, harvest fish).

They report it as a sort of utopian trip. They all look as though they are having the time of their lives.

I think in an alternate life, I could have been some kind of crazy adventurer such as this. Well, I'd like to think so. I think of the rafts my brother and I used to build when we went camping. The small shelters we built along the Sacramento river when we'd visit my grandma in Red Bluff. All the crazy survival stories from fishing with my dad. Pretty much without exception, I remember them extremely fondly, and would go back and do it all again in a heartbeat.