No Turning Back

In 1996, Benjamin Wade, then 24 years old, set out to paddle his kayak from Baja, California, to South America—a six-thousand mile journey expected to take several months. Everyone told him he was crazy. At times he thought he was crazy. Throughout his months of travel he made new friends, battled the elements and sharks, encountered a playful school of dolphins and paddled so close to a humpback whale that he feared the mammal would lift his kayak up from the ocean's surface. He camped on beaches and made friends with the locals in the small towns he stopped at along the way. Fighting the the weather—including Hurricane Hernan—he was often broke, usually hungry, and was forced at times to stop to work for his meals or recuperate from injuries. Showers were a luxury, sunburn a constant danger, but crushing loneliness overshadowed all other discomforts. During those long months he found within himself a deep faith that carried him through what he would later describe as “six months of hell.” These pages hold the account of that journey, an expedition that made him, in the end, a stronger person.