Reaching the Sea
When the trio neared the Egyptian town of Rosetta at the mouth of the Nile, they noticed black fins slicing through the water. By this time, John was used to the worst happening and at first assumed these to be sharks. They turned out to be dolphins, which nudged their boats and escorted them down the river to the Mediterranean Sea.

After nine months in kayaks and paddling over 1,000,000 strokes each, John, Jean and André were welcomed ashore by the mayor of Rosetta and a coterie of Egyptian officials and feted as royalty. The Los Angeles Times called the trip “The most amazing adventure of this generation.” John wrote an article about the expedition for National Geographic, and in Constitution Hall in Philadelphia, spoke about his trip to an audience of two thousand dignitaries, politicians, heads of state and fellow adventurers. He later wrote a book about the expedition titled Kayaks Down the Nile. More recently, he published The Survivor: 24 Spine-Chilling Adventures on the Edge of Death, a book that prompted the Los Angeles Times to call him the real-life Indiana Jones. Today he is in great demand as a motivational lecturer and guide, and he has returned to Africa numerous times to lead various tour groups.

The Smithsonian wanted to display John’s kayak in an exhibit devoted to American exploration. The curator offered to hang it near Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis, but when John saw all of the enormous items displayed in this great hall, he decided his boat would be lost next to them. John donated his kayak to the Adventurers’ Club of Los Angeles, where it is the most popular item in a building full of memorable trophies and artifacts from 86 years of expeditions around the globe.

The Nileteers stayed in touch over the years. In 1956, Jean LaPorte returned to Africa to kayak a portion of the Nile. He died in 2006. André Davy returned to Egypt as a journalist in 1957, and the following year published his own book about the Nile trip, 4,000 Miles of Adventure: Down the Nile by Canoe. He died in 2004.

I asked John if there were any goals from the original list he regrets not having accomplished. He said, “Going to the moon and reaching the North and South poles.” He was careful to say that he has never allowed the list to dominate his life, but it has always given him dozens of reasons to get up each morning.

James Michael Dorsey is an avid sea kayaker from Los Angeles. He has paddled most of the Rim of Fire from southern Alaska to the tip of Baja and the Sea of Cortez. James has written about his adventures for Sea Kayaker, Wavelength, California Wild and the L.A. Weekly.