I sailed a mile north and then, after a long, slow turn, back to my starting point.
The birds stayed with me.
Halfway back something made me look down.
I saw a large dark man standing alone in shallow water, looking up at me and waving. It had to be Boat. When I waved back, just before he passed from sight, he pointed out to sea.
The iwas stayed close until I began my descent. Then they banked in flight and disappeared behind me.
Back on the beach with my family, I talked about the frigate birds but not about Boat.
Late that evening I took my diving mask from our room, bought an unopened bottle of Dos Equis beer at the hotel bar, and walked north along the beach to the place where I’d seen him. I walked into the water up to my chest, then pulled on my mask and swam another forty or fifty yards until I found the place.
It was just before dark when I wedged the bottle between two dark rocks in the middle of a large, smooth patch of sand that I knew I could easily locate again in the morning.
I returned alone just after first light and was startled by how much Zihuatanejo resembled Waikiki the first time I had seen it as a boy. The long, empty beach swept gracefully northward toward a dark mountain silhouetted against a clear sky. The waves broke and rolled with the rhythmic pulse of the planet.
I waded halfway out through the warm water, pulled my mask into place, and swam the rest of the way. As I’d known it would be, the beer was gone.
Hawaiian Words
Ahi: yellowfin tuna
Aloha: hello, good-bye, love, affection
A’u: marlin
Aweoweo: Hawaiian bigeye (fish)
Hapai: pregnant
Hau: hibiscus tree
Hila hila: trouble, problem
Hinalea: small, brightly colored wrasse (fish)
Hoao paa: marriage
Honi: embrace, touch, kiss
Humuhumunukunukuapuaa: trigger fish
Iwa: frigate bird
Kanakas: a native Hawaiian, or sometimes, in conversation, an oldtimer
Kane: man, husband
Kau kau: food, eat
Kohi: vagina
Kukai: shit
Kumu: white-saddle goatfish
Lei: flower necklace
Limu: seaweed
Mahalo: thanks
Mahimahi: dolphin fish
Mana: spiritual or divine power
Manini: striped tang (fish)
Mano: shark
Manu Kai: seabird
Moana: side-spot goatfish
Muumuu: loose-fitting, often colorful Hawaiian dress
Ohana: family, extended family, clan
Okole: rear end, buttocks
Okolehau: Hawaiian bootleg liquor
Ono: good, savory
Palani: surgeonfish
Papolo: black person
Pau: finished, done
Pele: goddess of fire, volcanoes
Pilau: rotten, stinking
Poi: pasty food made from taro
Uhu: parrot fish
Ule: penis
Ulua: crevalle jack
Wahine: woman, wife