Tiki Archaeology: Moon Islander, South Titusville, Florida - General Tiki

T TikiTomD Grand Member (6 years) Flagler Beach, FL Joined: Sep 20, 2009 Posts: 700	T TikiTomD Posted posted on Wed, Apr 6, 2011 8:42 AM Fatuhiva, I am, as Sven expected, transfixed in wonder at the depth and breadth of your tiki collectables, as well as the tropical splendor of your home environs. Especially love the ginger, among my favorite of exotic flowering plants. I’d very much like to visit some time. The unveiling web of interconnections in the Moon Islander story is awesome. Just when you think there is nothing more, something else turns up, like howlinowl’s post yesterday and your post from last night. I’m going to wander off-thread a bit here. The mention of your Tahitian neighbor, who as a young lady was a Mai Kai dancer, brings bittersweet memories of another beautiful young Tahitian woman who was the childhood best friend of my wife. Her name was An Powell, born in Tahiti of Tahitian mother and American father. An and Pat, my wife, attended school together in Titusville from elementary through high school. They were inseparable. An’s father, Kim, built catamarans and rented them to folks for sailing excursions in the Indian River. See, for example, this Florida Today ad from April 4, 1971... An and Pat, even as pre-teens, would often grab one of her Dad’s catamarans and sail to any of a number of spoil islands created from dredging the Intracoastal Waterway channel along the Indian River. An’s Dad, overcome with the wanderlust of his youth, built the mother of all catamarans, the Tapiti Nui, to convey his family on a five-year voyage around the world. Almost 40 years ago on June 1, 1971, the entire family, except for An’s older brother, Kim, departed Titusville. Pat never saw her friend again... Things began well enough, though delayed by a hurricane... Florida Today July 2, 1971 Then tragedy... Florida Today August 8, 1971 Florida Today August 12, 1971 Years later, I was to work on the Space Shuttle at Kennedy Space Center with Kim, the older brother of An. I don’t know what became of him, but like his Dad, he also dreamed of faraway tropical places. I recall a desire to start a pineapple plantation... -Tom

Fatuhiva,

I am, as Sven expected, transfixed in wonder at the depth and breadth of your tiki collectables, as well as the tropical splendor of your home environs. Especially love the ginger, among my favorite of exotic flowering plants. I’d very much like to visit some time.

The unveiling web of interconnections in the Moon Islander story is awesome. Just when you think there is nothing more, something else turns up, like howlinowl’s post yesterday and your post from last night.

I’m going to wander off-thread a bit here. The mention of your Tahitian neighbor, who as a young lady was a Mai Kai dancer, brings bittersweet memories of another beautiful young Tahitian woman who was the childhood best friend of my wife. Her name was An Powell, born in Tahiti of Tahitian mother and American father. An and Pat, my wife, attended school together in Titusville from elementary through high school. They were inseparable. An’s father, Kim, built catamarans and rented them to folks for sailing excursions in the Indian River. See, for example, this Florida Today ad from April 4, 1971...

An and Pat, even as pre-teens, would often grab one of her Dad’s catamarans and sail to any of a number of spoil islands created from dredging the Intracoastal Waterway channel along the Indian River.

An’s Dad, overcome with the wanderlust of his youth, built the mother of all catamarans, the Tapiti Nui, to convey his family on a five-year voyage around the world. Almost 40 years ago on June 1, 1971, the entire family, except for An’s older brother, Kim, departed Titusville. Pat never saw her friend again...

Things began well enough, though delayed by a hurricane...

Florida Today July 2, 1971

Then tragedy...

Florida Today August 8, 1971

Florida Today August 12, 1971

Years later, I was to work on the Space Shuttle at Kennedy Space Center with Kim, the older brother of An. I don’t know what became of him, but like his Dad, he also dreamed of faraway tropical places. I recall a desire to start a pineapple plantation...

-Tom

Post #583615 by TikiTomD on Wed, Apr 6, 2011 8:42 AM