Tuesday 8 June 2010 Akam Island – Part 2
Aren’t parents wonderful? Just when you thought you had a little secret they let it out of the bag. Happy Birthday Grant. Maybe Grant didn’t mean to keep it secret. He tells people his age when asked. Was he going to add a year next time he was asked? We can’t tell. But if he did want it to be a secret he had every reason to think it would remain so, living on this yacht in such a remote location. Thanks to HF ships radio now the whole world knows.
As soon as we knew it was Grants birthday, a special birthday celebration was planned. Martin prepared a meal of Tuscan Beef on a bed of mashed potatoes while Chris made a birthday cake including match sticks for candles. The awning is up and cushions placed in a circle on the foredeck and the food arranged in the centre of the circle. The hot, humid, almost rainy atmosphere of the ink black night was rent with the strains of “Happy Birthday”. A very memorable birthday.
There is a lot about food in our ships log. The lads’ appetite cant be sated it seems. Grant was prowling around the cabin this afternoon and eventually said “we haven’t had lunch yet have we?” “no we haven’t ” Paul backed up. Grant didn’t wait another moment and set about making a tuna/noodle dish which was very tasty. Chris launched into bread making which was lovely but she needn’t feel sorry for the lads and think they need fattening up. Grant was seen cutting a slice of the new bread even while it was still cooling under a cloth and Chris was momentarily out of the galley.
The real problem is that we didn’t have enough work to do today and idleness breeds hunger, explained Paul. We arrived early in the day and we didn’t need to deliver any supplies in the afternoon so the whole day passed with any real work being done. Just boat odds and ends being done punctuated by food; or was that the other way around.
We did include several visits to shore and the meeting of locals but more of that tomorrow when the clinic to be held in the village ashore is completed. It has been interesting to watch the progression of daily life pass by from our vantage point on the boat; children playing on the beach, older people sitting under trees and lots of people returning from their gardens by canoe which are piled high with produce. Our vantage point only improved by eating freshly picked juicy pamplemoose . Ah food.
Fair winds, smooth seas and happy birthday Grant.
Andrew