Endless Summer

Book excerpt: In celebration of the approaching 21st century, the author joined the 46-foot ketch Hornblower II in a 'round-the-world rally. The British-sponsored Millennium Odyssey started in 1998 with a flame-lighting ceremony in the Old City of Jerusalem and ended on Easter Day 2000 at the Vatican. There, rally organizer Jimmy Cornell presented Pope John Paul II a lantern with the flame carried around the world from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The author recounts his east-west voyage along the "coconut milk run" through the Panama Canal, across the Pacific, Indian, and South Atlantic oceans, then back to the Caribbean and Florida. Along the way, he reflects on the marine ecosystem, globalization, and the history of exploration starting with Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta, Zheng He, Magellan to Cook.