Mutiny on the Bounty (continued)     The airstrip in Tahiti had just been completed around that time, leaving the island virtually unspoiled. I had arrived there late at night. Early the next morning I sprang out of bed and headed straight to the lagoon, which was right in front of our thatched roof house. There to my visual delight, was the most beautiful place on earth. The island of Moorea loomed twenty some miles across the channel, crystal clear water in the lagoon, waves breaking on the outer reefs, coconut palms, tropical vegetation, cobalt blue skies, the smells, the sights, the sounds ….. my senses were delightfully overloaded. Personally speaking, I was profoundly struck by the awesome majesty of God’s creation. Later in life, after coming to know Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior, I became familiar with this passage of scripture from the NIV (Romans 1:20). “ For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities---his eternal power and divine nature---have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” My point, before knowing Jesus as the creator, I clearly saw and understood instinctively, that there was indeed a creator. Tahiti surely is one of the crown jewels, of what has been made.

I was in paradise for the next three weeks, skin-diving with a sling spear in the lagoon, fishing, canoeing, meeting very friendly native people, noticing beautiful French Polynesian women and playing a round of golf with my grandparents in the afternoons on a makeshift course in the adjourning coconut grove. My grandfather had informed me of the inherent dangers in the lagoon, such as the deadly stonefish which I had encountered on three different occasions. At lunch and dinner, we would often dine on what I had brought out of the lagoon. After dinner my grandmother would occasionally shine a flashlight on the very high thatched roof and I would pop down giant moths with my BB gun. This would take place inside the house, my grandparents were indeed, very down to earth.

One afternoon in particular, I accompanied my grandfather and film crew out on the Bounty. We had put out a few miles towards Moorea and waited for the sun and light to get just right. After waiting a long period of time, for Marlon Brando to emerge from below deck to do some takes, I asked permission to climb up to the first rigging on the mast. From that vantage point, I was able to spot eight black tipped sharks in less than a half hour. I was also able to listen to the film crew and extras talk of another kind of mutiny. It seems Marlon Brando was on his own time schedule and it obviously didn’t coincide with anyone else’s.

For most of my time in Tahiti, my grandfather was in charge of the logistics and filming of the canoe chase. In the movie, some of the mutineers had decided to leave the island with some of the native women and were pursued by a Tahitian war canoe. The escaping canoe ended up crashing onto a reef in pounding surf. The logistics of planning and filming all of this was enormous.

I remember meeting this very friendly Tahitian native named Star. As I recall, he was a local chief apparently responsible for helping my grandfather with most of the logistics. A large scaffolding and platform had to be constructed on a barrier reef, that was at least a half mile or so offshore. Everyday the film crew, extras, and stuntmen had to be ferried out to the reef. Star was a very large man, with a big chunk of flesh missing from his upper arm. Apparently while spear fishing and towing his catch behind him, a shark had bitten his arm. To my delight a year or so later while pouring over a National Geographic article on Tahiti, I spotted a picture of Star. He was holding a giant Mantis Shrimp the size of a lobster. As a boy I was of course enthralled by all of this.