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Tuesday
David has three crew members. Nat, Alex and Vincent. Alex is Swiss, Vincent a
Bulgarian refugee, who lives in America. He has got to be the most
bungling(/floundering) person I have ever come across. I saved him in the dinghy
several times when he ran out of gas, when he couldn't start it or find out how
to put it in gear and just drifted longer and longer away. This morning he went
too close to the rocks and then the safety pin in the propeller broke. Shortly
after replacing it he ran out of fuel and drifted towards the Galapagos Islands
and I went out to get him back (here) again.
David had lost his patience with him and made a remark to me that he would
probably have to bring(/get) him ashore before it goes all wrong(/will end in
disaster).
I told David that if he brings him along, he will have to forbid him touching
anything. But it's probably too dangerous ringing him along, both for himself as
(well as) the others.
David had problems with the dinghy engine and Vincent had taken half the engine
apart, when David asked me to come over and take over. The problem was that
there was gas running(/flowing) out of the carburetter. I asked if they had
remembered to turn off the gas tap after the last time they had used the boat
and David admitted that they (well, Vincent) had forgotten for the first time.
The carburetters on the small 2-3 horsepower engines are tiny and the float
valves a rather(/quite) delicate matter. So if you don't turn off the gas tap
there's a big risk that the ??? will jam and then the gas will be flowing right
through. I started by assembling the engine and already screws were missing??
(Ah, h...(/hell), Vincent). I took out the spark plug and "aired (out)" the
carburetter and engine by turning(/rotating/revolving) the engine many times
without the (spark, edit) plug (in it). Several of the screws Vincent had taken
out were gone((/had (completely) vanished)) so I went(/turned) to Trojka to find
others(/replacements). And then it of course just started again.
We wanted to go on a beach trip(/to the beach) and what better beach that the
small deserted one could be better. So we sailed ashore and left the dinghy and
walked to(ward) the beach. The beach was located behind some big buildings that
General Noriega had used at one time(/back in the day). Luxury palaces for
prostitutes and generals, but aren't in use any longer(/are now deserted), since
he's in jail(/prison)(/doing prison time) in America (now). We explored the
biggest of them. They haven't been(/'re not) locked, since they have already
been totally emptied(/looted/stripped) of everything of value, including doors
and windows. But we could easily see that it had (once) been extravagant
luxury(/extravagantly luxurious). To get down to the beach we needed to crawl
over giant rocks and along and rocky coast (up) on the rocks. It was(/turned out
to be) a lot further (away) than I'd thought. So when we finally reached it(/our
destination) we enjoyed bathing(/swimming) and lying on the beach. After some
hours there came first one and then another and told us that we definitely
couldn't be bathing there. (Turns out, edit) it was a crab resort inside a
closed territory(/area) controlled by the Smithsonian (Institution, edit). But
they were really sweet(/good) and we weren't thrown out of there. Most likely
because of Nat, who looks incredibly(/unbelievably) enchanting in a(/her)
bikini. We found a fountain, one of those drinking fountains you bend (down)
over. This had so much pressure on the water that it went up in (the air in)
squirts perfect for a shower. I dropped my trunks and stood naked enjoying
the(/my) "shower" when suddenly a bus with tourists passed by only 10 metres
from there. We couldn't see the road since it was half a metre lower. Some
took(/got to take) photographs and they seemed very happy when(/as) they passed
us.
During the rock walk I had lost my t-shirt so when we took the bus to town to go
shopping I was stripped to the waist. Then I'll buy a new one there (a t-shirt
is(/costs) a dollar). People here never walk around stripped to the waist. I
think it's their religion?? The driver asked(/told) me to put on a t-shirt. The
small girls on the bus couldn't keep their eyes from my naked(/bare) stomach and
whispered and laughed a lot. The women acted completely giddy(/silly). When we
got off in (the) town, in the middle of a large crowd, everyone looked(/stared)
at me and I hurried inside the first shop(/store) to buy a t-shirt. Nobody in
there "fainted" but it could(/might) have been a close call, and all because of
a bare stomach.
We had dinner on board Beacon and had a pleasant time with David and Alex before
Nat and I went to the bar. We were there until after they had closed and helped
the bouncer cleaning up after ourselves. |