Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Signs from Above

This morning after I woke up I put another layer of goop on the three formerly naked kevlar spots. While I was eating breakfast, my host noticed the goo was dry so he sanded it down for me. The front of my boat no longer looks new, and is a little rough, but at least it has the right shape.

Day 25:

Today I paddled to wherever the heck I am. There are two peninsulas jutting out from the mainland about 15 miles apart, so I cut straight across from one to the next. I could see in the distance on my left a number of small towns in the mountains, as well as Toulon which is a bit bigger.

I had a force 6 – 7 tail wind, which was perfect. One wave, breaking under me, tried especially hard to pull me down. Pushing water over my port side, and sucking from underneath, I had to repeatedly and forcefully skull to stay upright.



As the sun went down it illuminated wild clouds above me. One of them looked just like arabbit, and another like a fist with one finger extended. Suddenly I imagined that all the clouds were sending me rude and obscene messages. The bunny rabbit was something else. Somebody’s buttocks was flaunted proudly, mooning me from above. Most of the clouds were so obscene that I couldn't even figure out what they were meant to be.



After dark I spotted off of the 2nd peninsula a blinking red light that said to me “I mightbe the entrance to a port, and I might not.” I was still another 40 minute’s paddle or so from my intended destination.

I paddled in the direction of the blinking red light. Occasionally other small white lights would appear around it. I didn't know what to make of them. Sometimes there would be one or four, or none.

I pulled up to see that the small white lights were floating on the water, and attached to fishing lines. Fishermen stood silently on the land. I called out to them. Nobody answered. As I got closer I could see I was indeed entering a port, and they were indeed fishermen. Perhaps they didn't answer my greeting for the same reason that nobody ever answers my radio checks.

Aside from an abundance of fishermen doing their work in the dark, a port with maybe enough room for a hundred boats had four, and not much else. At 6:30 the captain’s office was dark. I went into the small village to look for a wifi connection and a market. Everything was closed.

I'm pretty sure that tonight is the first night of Hanukah, and I had hoped to pick up a candle to set next to my sleeping bag (not too close). Tomorrow I'll try to pull into port before all the shops close.

I found near the captain’s office a small enclosure with 3 walls, a roof, and a picnic table. This would be my home for the night, this doesn't seem like the sort of port that would have any security.

*43.034858,6.127013 (added Dec 8th)

4 comments:

  1. Your Aunt Bonnie and I, and Ben and Jon, wish you a safe and warm Hannukah.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Right back at y'all with lots of love!

    ReplyDelete
  3. It looks like some of the skills you learned at Yonkers have served you well! sounds like a spooky town you are in.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The YPRC is super awesome and every moment I spent with them was loads of fun and extraordinarily educational. My forward stroke has improved much since then, but many of the other skills I picked up there remain both mostly unchanged and of great value.

    ReplyDelete