Today's Daily Special is Tuna and Tipsy Cake

WHIRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!! The reel on one of our two fishing poles was turning faster than a zydeco dancer at a hurricane party. Louis grabbed the line while the boat was brought around. We could all tell from the sound that this was a big fish. Our regular practice has been to reel in the other line when we have a fish, but this was not possible. The other line had also started screaming as something big pulled it down and away. Now Mark had the second rod and was next to Louis as they played two fish at once. Within minutes, the dinner menu had changed from spaghetti to seared tuna steaks. The mood of the crew was boosted palpably until we came to the realization that we actually had too much fish. The smaller of the two fish had to be thrown back, as we had no room to freeze it. None of us felt good about the decision. The fish was obviously dead, but we knew it was the only real option that we had. Louis was sullen, "I don't like it. We will have bad fishing luck now because of this." Maybe so. We shall see. Bless us, Neptune, for we have sinned.


Up until today, we have been running on a schedule that is based on the clocks back in Las Palmas - Greenwich Mean Time. As we run westward, our watches have increasingly been in conflict with the sun. While the first night watch may have been scheduled to begin, there was still far too much daylight. By the time the early morning watch was over, it was still the middle of the night. It was a problem, and some kind of action was required. Last night the Cap'n and crew held an informal galley meeting to try and figure this out. The first order of business was to disregard any and all of the time-based norms established over the centuries by the Druids, the Mayans, and all those physicists. Instead, we used models. "Awright ... my hand is earth, see, and this cup is the sun ... " In time, it was decided that we would on this day institute Maverick Dream Time. At high noon, we would move our watches backward by two hours. Or is it forward? Let's see; if my hand is the sun, and my knee is Earth ... yes. We move the clocks back. We chose to move time during the day, rather than at night, for two reasons. The first reason being that a long day at sea is unquestionably better than a long night at sea. The second and more important reason was that we had the power to change the time any time we wanted to, and that's very, very cool. While most of us were drunk with power, changing over to Maverick Dream Time was not a unanimously agreed upon decision.
Tom was downright hostile to the notion. It offended his sensibilities. Only a moment ago, he pointed at his watch and declared to me, "It is the time."
I pointed at the sun and said, "There's no way we're 25 minutes away from high noon."
"You Americans ..."
"Man on the moon, Tom."
"You think you know everything."
"Say Tom, what time was it when Holland put a man on the moon?"
If you are reading this, there can be no doubt that you are either a contemplative and learned individual or a Google robot spider. Either way, it has probably already occurred to you that a two hour time change between the Canary Islands and St. Lucia is not the end-all answer to our problems. Unbeknownst to Tom, we will buy back another two hours a few days from now and even then we will be off by one hour upon reaching our destination. We are watching him closely for telltale signs that it is all too much for him. It's almost time for lunch. Perhaps we will spend our new-found two hours dining in a leisurely manner on the fresh sushi that Mark is making with the tuna. We will raise a toast to the fish we kept and to the one we had to sacrifice. We will raise our bowls of Tipsy Cake that Barry made using no less than half a bottle of sherry. Perhaps this will appease Neptune. Time will tell.

















And a lil bit o' dutch:
Dagindeling Tom op 3 december 2007
5.40 uur opstaan
6.00 tot 9.00 uur wachtzitten
9.00 tot 11.00 uur ontbijten meestal iets uit een groot pak zoals Kellog’s slapen douchen of opfrissen
11.00 tot 13.00 uur logboek schrijven veel fruit eten
13.00 tot 14.00 uur lunch ditmaal suchi met advocado en komkommer en natuurlijk de tonijn rauw
14.00 tot 19.00 uur spelletjes Rummicup de stand is nu Mark 3, Tom 3, Keith 1 en Louis 0. Op de bok zitten en af en toe een slaapje doen
19.00 tot 20.00 uur diner Sla met rare gebakken tonijn.
Daarna afwassen
20.00 tot 22.00 uur wachtzitten op de bok
22.00 tot 5.40 uur slapen
Alles is zo eenvoudig
Till tomorrow

chow from all the ravenous crew on Maverick Dream. Tuna steaks, tuna sushi, tuna bake, tuna pasta, tuna......