Monday, December 22, 2008

So long and thanks for all the...fishsticks?


Howdy-doodley-doo! ITMA. How are you all doing today? Well, today is Saturday, and everyone is a bit tired today as we had a crew inspection last night with Homeland Security. This happens around every six months or so, just so they can keep their fingers on the pulse so to speak. A necessary procedure, but Man you are tired the next day. By the time I got to the area, the line was sooo long. I went to my cabin, loaded a movie on to my touch, and watched that while I was in line. One hour and twenty minuets later I was at the front of the line, and five minuets from the end of the movie! What to do, WHAT to do? In the end, I let a few other people ahead of me, and watched the end of the movie. Personally, I think that Clarence DEFINITELY deserved his wings!

Well today was a very smooth sail across to Grand Bahama, and when I went to look at the party, all was well, and the team did a great job enthusing the crowd. We got to Grand Bahama nice and early and it was time for me to take a trip that I had organized a few days ago. It is time…to visit the Dolphins. Unexso run these tours, and they call them The Close Encounter. I’ll tell you, unless you have done this, you haven’t lived. Dolphins are amazing creatures. And, according to the Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, one of the most intelligent creatures on this planet, second only to white mice!

They do eat a LOT of fish, so their breath isn’t great, but what are you going to do? By the way, what do you call a fish with no eyes? A Fsh! How do I know what their breath smells like? Well, I am not proud of it, but I allowed the dolphin to kiss me! I didn’t even get dinner and dancing! And on a first date! And between you and me, I don’t even know if it was a girl or a boy! But it IS part of the experience, so I didn’t want to be a killjoy. Also, during the experience they told us a lot about the best way to interact with them. For instance, don’t go anywhere near the hole on the top of their head, that is the best way to find out if anything annoys a dolphin! Let them come to you, that’s another good idea! Don’t just grab at them, no one likes that. Mind you, that IS how I met Adele! I know what you are thinking, what kind of animal just grabs at somebody, pins their arms to their side and passionately kisses them with out even finding out their name? Well, you probably haven’t met her so you shouldn’t judge, and she doesn’t do that kind of thing any more. And, after I got over the shock, I quite liked it. They don’t feel quite like you would expect, (THE DOLPHINS! Behave yourselves!) they kind of feel like a hard, wet cushion, and you can feel the power rippling through them with the slightest movement. I got some great photos, and the one of me being dragged through the water is the fulfillment of one of my biggest ambitions, ever since I saw a TV show back in the mists of time called “Flipper” It was a bit like a Aquatic version of “Skippy” which in turn was a Antipodean version of “The Littlest Hobo” which was a Canadian version “Lassie!” Now that I think about it, I may have watched a little too much TV as a child! Mind you, my family was a bit like “The Adams Family” and I did spend a lot of time trying to get the local Rag and Bone mans horse to say Wilbur…just once. Never happened. Now I’m older, I realize that I was being naive. Mr. Ed didn’t live anywhere near me, and if he did, he wouldn’t have been pulling a cart! What a fool!

Any-hoo, after we had dried off, I said goodbye to my new friend, and explained that next time we met I would expect at least a drink before there was any more kissing involved, but to be honest, I felt I was just another notch on the sea-weed, and I suspect another kissie was being eyed up, even as I was talking. Ah well, there are plenty more fish in the sea!
‘Till next time
Rick

No comments: