ALL HOPE IS LOST! oh wait ... no ... it's ok. Sorry.
~~~
Today the officials of ARC told Cap'n Mark that we could not sail unless we got a new, larger life raft. The one onboard now is certified to carry four Desperate Souls. ARC cleverly pointed out that we have five potentially desperate souls. Our argument was strong; we could easily fit five on the raft if needed, and our route is so well-traveled, we would not have to wait all that long before being scooped out of the briny deep.
ARC were not impressed.
Forgetting for a moment that a new life raft would cost around £4,000.00 pound sterling (that's around $78,860,093.92 dollars - U.S.), the more damning fact is that we could not purchase one in time. We had a very real problem.
Salvation happened a few hours later. Jim, the captain of the British monohull "Ino" most graciously agreed to trade his 6-person life raft for our 4-person, since he has a crew of four. When we arrive in St. Lucia, we will trade back. If not for this, we would have been in trouble. Safety in numbers, even before we head out to sea!
As it stands now, we could actually carry one extra person in our life raft. Therefore, if the boat sinks and we are forced to get in the life raft, we could still pluck one other even-more desperate soul out of the sea. Heroes! That's us. How could someone be an even more desperate soul? Perhaps they had been watching Bee Movie and they jumped.
It's been repeatedly stated, by many a seasoned sailor, that it is better in an emergency to stay with the real boat if at all possible. Dudley, a crewman on the Ino, put it best when he said, "One should never step down to get into a life raft; only up."
1st runner-up in the quotes department was that guy in that movie who mumbled repeatedly, "never gitoutta the boat ...never gitoutta the boat ... " Of course, if memory serves, I believe that he had just been attacked by a "F***** tiger".
This morning, Barry, Tom, and Keith walked to a nearby bakery for fresh bread.
After which, we crossed the street for a cup of espresso. While it was quite good, Barry is not used to the strong stuff. He finished his, but I don't think he enjoyed it like we did. He said it was too much, but Tom said he needed it in order to turn into a pirate.
Please don't mention to Tom's wife that he is a pirate.
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3 comments:
Never gitoutta the boat. Not for espresso. Not even for f***ing mangoes, Mr. sauciere.
"Eleven hundred men went into the water. Vessel went down in 12 minutes. Didn't see the first shark for about a half an hour. Tiger. 13-footer. You know how you know that when you're in the water, Chief? You tell by looking from the dorsal to the tail...Very first light, Chief, sharks come cruisin', so we formed ourselves into tight groups. You know, it was kinda like old squares in the battle like you see in the calendar named "The Battle of Waterloo" and the idea was: shark comes to the nearest man, that man he starts poundin' and hollerin' and screamin' and sometimes the shark go away... but sometimes he wouldn't go away. Sometimes that shark he looks right into ya. Right into your eyes. And, you know, the thing about a shark... he's got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll's eyes. When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be living... until he bites ya, and those black eyes roll over white and then... ah then you hear that terrible high-pitched screamin'. The ocean turns red, and despite all the poundin' and the hollerin', they all come in and they... rip you to pieces...So, eleven hundred men went in the water; 316 men come out and the sharks took the rest,"
Just sayin' is all.
Call me Ishmael.
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