Life as a sailor is a bit different than working in the Middle East . For
one, alcohol is not illegal, but rather quite the contrary, it is highly
encouraged. We went to the pub last
night for a beer before dinner and I enjoyed the company of Michel (a
Frenchman), another Brit, and an Aussie.
We had a few beers and discussed future sailing plans and troubles with
immigrating to Australia Middle East , I discovered that the
people are very private, unless you have a reason to speak with them, they won’t
approach you, and conversations are rather limited. Living in a marina, you find that the exact
opposite is true. Everyone is from a
different place and has a different story.
I even met a tall person!! The
first guy I’ve seen over 6’, a big South African guy. Everyone is very friendly, especially after a
couple rounds of beers. I found out that
Monday is typically a slow day because everyone is recovering from the
weekend. One of the marina drinking
games involves pairing up with another guy and knocking each others heads into
a coconut tree, not sure how you ‘win’.
We spent the evening back on our boat, Michel and the other Brit joined
us for a couple of bottles of wine and a case of beer. I heard stories about the sea, the joys of
marriage, and how much better sex is when you pay for it (apparently if you go
into town with Tom you only pay half price).
It was a nice evening sitting on the deck enjoying the cool sea breeze
and throwing a couple back. Michel
described the beauty of Menjangin and claims that it is some of the best diving
in the world! That got me pretty
excited. After a couple hours of hearing
about shagging and getting the advice “what happens anywhere stays anywhere,
and if it comes with you it’s a disease”, I retired to my bunk for an
interesting night. The bunk is maybe 6’
long, and that’s being generous, and the cabins trap all the heat and humidity
from the day, they are in the steel hull and have no direct breezes, just
hatches at the top of the room. For the
first time I missed the XL beds from school, which are also about 25% wider.
This morning I helped off load the ‘cans’ (scuba tanks) so
they could be tested, then started scrubbing the wood on the deck. We have to wash off all of the dirt that has
collected from the rain before we can apply the oil to protect from the sun and
salt water. Unfortunately it rained on
and off all afternoon, and we can’t oil the wood until it has baked for a while. Tomorrow I am building bunks all day. Another
crew member has just arrived; we are slowly filling up to our 8 man crew for
our departure on Feb. 12
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