Evolution
Moody left Dele in Melbourne.
She says things were beginning to get romantic, and she was "nursing a broken heart" from a previous relationship.
Besides, she knew that Karlan was Dele's true love.
Karlan was an on-again, off-again girlfriend whom Dele met when she was living in Los Angeles studying to be a makeup artist and he was playing for the Clippers.
"He spoke of Serena a lot," Moody says. "Given who he was, he could have pretty much had the hand of anybody, I suppose, but Serena was his one love."
Dele and Karlan hadn't spoken after Karlan moved to New York to start her real estate career.
"He didn't appreciate putting value on property. That was one of the reasons why they kind of split up," Moody says.
After months of sailing around the South Seas and visiting Australia's main cities, Beal decided to leave the boat and was replaced by skipper Ben Fitzgibbon in Surfer's Paradise near Brisbane.
Fitzgibbon sailed the boat north of Australia and made his way through tiny clusters of islands, then headed back to Cairns, Australia, where they refitted the Hakuna Matata and hired on Mark Benson as a mate in April 2001. From there, they headed to Papua New Guinea.
By this time, Dele seemed to have relaxed into a different person from the fast-talking, emotionally energized Dele of months before.
"Brian was a fantastically intelligent man, very well-thought, very well-spoken," Fitzgibbon says. "He rarely spoke without the need to speak. He didn't like to talk about the past that much. He liked to focus on the now."
Dele spent his time studying nature, diving, fishing and swimming.
"He enjoyed being away from that recognition," Fitzgibbon says. "He didn't agree with the way society worked. He couldn't stand the capitalism and the greed, the corruption and the lies.
"He wanted to get out and be surrounded by good people."
So Dele rekindled his last love, calling Karlan in New York and persuading her to come visit.
Love
On Oct. 16, 2001, Dele flew Karlan and Yvonne Moore, Benson's girlfriend, to the tiny island of Vanuatu in the South Pacific.
Moore initially thought she would be visiting Benson for a few days, but Dele asked her to stay on, saying he would cover all of the costs.
"I felt quite uncomfortable with him covering the air fare and everything," Moore says. "But he sort of said to me, 'What did you get out of it? Do you think it's worth it?' "
For the first few days, the couples enjoyed time alone.
But once they left the island, the group - Dele, Karlan, Benson, Moore, Fitzgibbon and cook Sheri Bromley - quickly became like family on the crowded boat.
"Every night we would sit out there and have dinner and have a couple of wines and a whole host of conversations," Moore says. "Then we would all get up in the morning and have breakfast.
"We were doing all sorts of things of the rich and famous. And (Dele) was madly in love with his girlfriend. It was all great images, all wonderful, a fantastic time."
Karlan was surprised at how well she got along with Dele, and for the first time seemed to be considering a serious relationship.
"They were always happy, laughing," Moore says. "The trip sort of stirred something up inside of her.
"They looked like two people slowly falling in love."
But as the two-week vacation became four, then six, then eight weeks, Karlan decided to go home.
"She gave it a lot of thought," Moore says. "She was an intelligent girl. She wasn't going to throw everything away, and she had commitments back at home."
On Nov. 24, 2001, the Hakuna Matata arrived at the island of New Caledonia, between New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, and Karlan and Moore left.
The rest of the group hung around the island for a few months, hooking up with Bertrand Saldo, a skipper they first had met in Vanuatu who was touring the South Seas on a private yacht with his girlfriend. Saldo, 32, was the nephew of former French defense minister Charles Hernu.
Fitzgibbon talked Saldo into joining them in New Zealand at the beginning of 2002 so he could take over as skipper.
Olive branch
Dele had not given up on Karlan, wooing her with e-mails and phone calls during the two months she was gone. Karlan couldn't let go of Dele, either, and she finally gave in. Dele sent $50,000 to help Karlan pay off her debt. She quit her job in New York, packed up her things and moved them to her parents' home near Boulder. After a few weeks' visit with her family, she flew to New Zealand and a new life with Dele.
The boat arrived in January in Opua's Bay of Islands in New Zealand, where Karlan joined them.
The couple flew to Auckland to spend time alone, while Fitzgibbon and Benson stayed on the boat.
About four days after the couple left, Fitzgibbon received a call on the Hakuna Matata's satellite phone, from Miles Dabord.
"He sounded very excited about our arrival," Fitzgibbon says. "It was quite a surprise visit. (Dele) was quite unaware he was coming."
Unemployed and nearly broke, Dabord had just abandoned most of his belongings at a Palo Alto, Calif., apartment where he owed more than $4,000 in back rent to Deanne Heinrichs, a former girlfriend.
Dabord hooked up with his brother and Karlan, then the three traveled back to the boat.
"When the three of them came up to the Bay of Islands, everyone was happy," Fitzgibbon says.
Dabord confided in the skipper that he made the trip halfway around the world to patch things up with Dele.
"He said he had lost contact with his brother for a few years and that he wanted to regain that connection with him," Fitzgibbon says. "He also was really interested in boats. He had a years-long dream to learn how to sail and understand boating.
"The guy was full of questions."
As the boat, now loaded to capacity with eight people, sailed along the coast of New Zealand to the Great Barrier Island and Auckland, Dabord learned all that he could about sailing.
But for the most part, the Hakuna Matata, equipped with computer charts, an autopilot and an interactive image of the boat on a real-time map, could nearly sail herself.
During the three-month journey to Auckland, Saldo, Benson, Dabord, Dele and Karlan - the group that would end up in Tahiti - seemed to get along fine.
"Things were great," Fitzgibbon says. "Bertrand (Saldo) was learning the boat, how to work it. (Dele) and (Dabord) seemed very relaxed. We had beautiful weather. The whole vibe seemed completely relaxed."
Although everyone seemed to be having a good time, the brothers often argued.
Fitzgibbon dismissed the tiffs as "brotherly. But it did appear slightly childish at times."
The two argued about who the best Formula 1 race car driver was, which motorcycle was better, who was better at a particular PlayStation game - small, irrelevant issues of which neither brother could seem to let go.
"They were both strong characters," Fitzgibbon says. "(Dele) would stand his ground, and (Dabord) would stand his, and they would enter a discussion that would flare up to raised voices, but no physical confrontations."
The brothers shared interests but seemed almost polar opposites on the boat. Dele was laid-back, spiritual and most at home while communing with nature and the sea.
Dabord was much more outgoing and friendly, amusing the crew with stories of the brothers' childhood, but he was very clumsy in the confines of the boat.
Dabord was obviously proud of his brother's wealth and former career - often quoting scores and games statistics to Dele's friends - but that pride sometimes was overshadowed by jealousy.
"He didn't have as much money, wasn't as good-looking and was slightly overweight," Fitzgibbon says. "But that was just basic jealousy most humans would have. There was no way I could have known what was going to happen."
This bitterness seemed most evident when Dele wasn't around.
"He'd say things like, 'Oh, yeah, (Dele) always thinks he's right,' or, 'My brother, he always has to have it his way,' " Fitzgibbon says.
In early February, Heinrichs tracked Dabord down and e-mailed him, demanding he pay her the back rent.
On Feb. 18, Dabord replied, writing in part:
"I am flat broke, unemployed, and without a home of my own. Do you think I would have abandoned most of my things to a salvage sale if I'd had any other choice? If you think I've f---ed you over, Deanne, believe me, I am triply f---ed, and unlike you, without an end in sight.
"I am out of the country right now, and I don't know when or if I'm going to return. A fresh start in a completely new place is looking really good to me right now."
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