« They make it look so easy | Main | The famous Mr Mun »
March 24, 2005
Life in Alton Towers
"Some people would pay good money for a ride like this," remarked the
ship's electrician as we once again rolled violently to the side. "That
would have to be in England," quipped Oscar, the first mate (who is
Spanish). Sure enough, the electrician was referring to Alton Towers,
down the road from his home town. I pointed out that Alton Towers had
once been voted the worst amusement park in Britain.
The whole situation was quite surreal. We were up on the bridge
watching the huge waves breaking around us from behind as the ship
pitched and rolled. Oscar had plugged his ipod into the stereo system
and The Rolling Stones blared out like a movie soundtrack. The two
Daves leant against the control panels talking about the Two Ronnies (an
old British television program, for my non-Commonwealth readers),
quoting their favourite lines. Libby, our marine biologist, was still
watching for whales despite the horrendous weather, standing on deck
battered by snow and salt water (that is her in the photo, the little
white spots you can see are snow, and that wall of water is a wave!).
All of this was punctuated by the occasional loud snores of Mr Mun, one
of our whale experts, sleeping soundly in the corner.
It has been rough, with Force 9 winds and flurries of snow. At one
point, the snow virgins emerged (as they are now affectionately referred
to by Phil, the bosun). Gina, who is from Fiji, and Dilip, from India,
were so excited by the snow that they ran on deck to see it.
Personally, if I was a whale today I would be well under water, hoping
to take it easy with Spongebob Squarepants on the ocean floor. Not
being a whale, I haven't been hanging out with Spongebob Squarepants to
my great disappointment, but I have been horizontal most of the day. In
fact, looking at a computer is the most painful experience in this
situation, so I'm typing this from my bunk. Sadly, I seem to be quite
pathetic at dealing with this weather, so forgive me if today's blog is
a bit shorter and more incoherent than usual!
Our cabin is below the water level, we can hear the water bubbling
around us, which is odd - it sounds kind of metallic and bubbly, like
those submarine sound effects in old James Bond movies. The rough
weather makes life on the ship quite strange - trying to do an ordinary
task is 10 times harder, you feel as if a poltergeist is following you
and pushing you against walls or tying a rope around your feet at the
oddest moments. (They seem to especially love pushing you down stairs).
The bad weather has had another tragic outcome - an outbreak of socks
and sandals. This is a personal pet hate of mine, but I have to admit
that this particular combination does have some practical application on
a ship - warmer than sandals alone, easier than finding and putting on
shoes while the room rolls around you. (But Dave will not be forgiven if
I spot them on shore later!)
Tomorrow I am going to help out with the whale watching. We are shortly
arriving in Jeju, the so-called "honeymoon island" just south of the
Korean peninsula. Turns out for some of us it could be - Hoany, one of
the KFEM bunch, has told us he has friends on Jeju and has offered to
provide some of us single girls with boyfriends. Neil thinks this is
because we appear to be "sad gits". We prefer to think that Hoany is
kind-hearted (or, as Matilda says more accurately, feels sorry for us
being stuck here with Neil!). Anyway, apparently the area is the best
place to spot Finless Porpoises, although Libby warns us not to get our
hopes up. I guess I'm definitely not going to spot them from my bunk,
so I am going to make my way up and attempt some dinner now.
Posted by Adele at March 24, 2005 03:00 PM
Comments
Hey Adele,
Great web logs - very funny and interesting to read!
Jude
Posted by: Judy Rudy at March 24, 2005 05:45 PM
