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American Spirit II - Day 265; A Trip to West Island & a Lot of Rain; Saturday, September 27, 2014



Up at 6:00 AM.

Breakfast at 7:15 AM: bacon, scrambled eggs, chilled fruit cocktail and bread.

We left the boat at 8:30 AM; and the ferry picked us up at 9:00 AM for the trip to West Island. Almost all the crews from all the Rally boats were on the ferry. We brought our empty propane tank with us because I had been told that we could get it filled at the super market on the island.

We arrived at West Island around 9:30 AM, and after being driven in a small bus to town, we walked to the police station to get our passports stamped and pick up our clearances out of Cocos Keeling. Next to the police station was a building with wall pictures and information stating that it was the location of the island's golf course; and that since you had to play along or between the runways, you had to get the permission of the airport manager to play. The cost was $10.00 for play and $10.00 for club rental. Play and rental was on the honor system, with you putting your money into a slot in the side of the building.

After leaving the police station it seems that everyone in the Rally either headed en masse to the super market or internet cafe. I tried to get our propane tank filled but was told that the person that did that was not in today and since he lived on a different island he wasn't coming it. So I bought another propane tank that was filled with propane. I took out our thread protector (a small plastic piece that screws into the valve) and the thread protector from the new tank fit our old tank. A good sign. This super market was the same one that we'd ordered our groceries from a week earlier. Rally control emailed or faxed every boat's orders to the super market so the orders would be ready for pick up when we arrived. I waited around the super market for a hour or so until I finally figured out I wasn't going to get my used tank filled, then left for a store where I bought a drink cooler and a book and picked up some brochures on Cocos Keeling. After that I headed to a restaurant where I found Joel and Jeremy. We ordered lunch, Saffron rice with chicken curry. Spicy but good. They had both had some success in accessing the internet. However, this 'success' always costs money. There is almost no free internet as you travel around the world. Except in restaurants. Sometimes.

While in the restaurant I met with Derry, a doctor and owner of Avocet, another Rally boat from Dublin, Ireland; and I showed him my right index finger. I had a large lump on it by the joint closest to the fingernail. He diagnosed it as an 'inclusion dermoid,' and said I could get some steroid cream from his later that would, over time, probably get rid of the problem. If that didn't work minor surgery (lance) could be performed to eliminate the problem. The way Derry explained 'inclusion dermoid' is that is that I had a puncture in my finger and some skin cells were transferred into my finger beneath the surface and then started growing there. Like a pearl growing in an oyster. Who knew?!

Around 4:00 PM it started to rain torrentially. Bad timing as a bus picks us up from the restaurant to take us back to the ferry at 5:00 PM, 5:10 PM and 5:20 PM; and the ferry departs from West Island to go back to Direction Island at 5:30 PM. We all got wet getting on the bus; and once at the ferry dock we noticed that the groceries we had all ordered were in boxes stacked on the dock by the ferry landing, but because of the rain all the cardboard boxes were drenched and some were hard to pick up. I'd ordered 10 dozen eggs and the box they were in started to disintegrate when I picked it up.

Once the ferry came it was a Chinese fire drill getting all the groceries and people on the ferry. I had paid an extra $5.00 to have the groceries loaded onto the boat, but no one from the grocery store was at the dock to do this so we did it ourselves. The problem was that the gangway onto the ferry was only wide enough for one person to walk on, so you couldn't carry one of your boxes of groceries onto the boat and then get off to go get another one. Eventually we started a line of people who passed each box onto the back of the ferry, like a bucket fire brigade. It wasn't pretty and it was pouring down rain as we were doing this.

We arrived back at Direction Island in the dark around 6:00 PM to 6:15 PM, then went thru the same Chinese fire drill unloading all the groceries onto the pier; then collecting your grocery boxes and carrying them to your dingy; then loading your dingy; and finally motoring out to the boat in the blowing and driving rain, in the dark. How much fun is this?! When we got to our dingy one of the 4 compartments was flat - out of air. Fortunately, it was only a valve that had opened and not a hole in the dingy. Joel unscrewed the valve and blew enough air into it that it would keep us afloat. Once back on the boat the groceries were unloaded and we all stripped off our soaked clothing as no one was smart enough to have brought our foul weather gear for the trip. Go figure!

Dinner at 7:00 PM was freeze dried Spanish Style Rice with Shrimp and Ham.

We watched the movie Prince of Persia and the Sands of Time (?) from 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM. Two thumbs up. And devoured two bags on pop corn in the process.

From 11:05 PM to 11:32 PM I sent out a log and emails and received some emails. The SSB station was in Brunei, Philippines 1,458 miles away at a heading of 47 degrees True. I got disconnected once. Receiving was faster than sending, as usual recently.

Jeremy and Joel went to bed at 9:50 PM. I called Janet and talked to her and my grand daughter Kayden at around 11:40 PM, using the satellite phone. A good morale booster.

In bed at midnight.

Brian Fox




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