Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Day 142

It's wrong to strike at someone's dignity because of their sexuality, since one has nothing to do with the other. Every human on God's green earth should be able to marry whomever they please provided 1) The couple shares a mutual loving relationship. 2) You may not marry a sibling, descendant, or ancestor - unless time travel is involved. 3) You may not marry your cat.

Day 142:
5/27/2014

Last night I found wifi and an electrical outlet behind a closed beach bar. After a couple of hours the owners found me and chased me away.

The hotel staff that was working on the beach brought me 12 liters of 750ml bottled water before my launch even though I'm happy to drink from the tap. A little dysentery now and then makes a fellow strong. I appreciated the gesture.

They waved to me as I paddled away and I gave a goodbye roll.

I packed the extra water in my 10 liter bag so that I could camp for the night, halfway to my next supply point. The larger than usual water bag displaced my bread bag, and I had to smush it under my leg rather than balance it between them.

I don't know if it's because my cockpit is leaking or if it was water that I took on during the goodbye roll, but my bread got soggy. Yuck.

I still had the chia maca drink. It got me about half the distance I needed to paddle for the day.
I could camp, but the only place to resupply tomorrow was in the wrong direction. I found a deep sheltered bay and got directions to the nearest restaurant-market, a mere ten miles crossing in the right direction.

I set out, into a sudden strong headwind, paddled for ten minutes, and turned around broken before the tears came.

Back in the bay there were four sailboats. I asked for supplies and got invited for tea onto a double masted sailing yacht.

I climbed up the ladder and Jan, my welcoming host, introduced me to his friend Sven.
"Well Hellooo!" Sven said with a strong effeminate intonation.

"Hi!"

After tea and regaling the party of 11 happy Dutch sailors with stories I got to shower. Sven lent me his comb to work the budding dreadlocks out of my hair. It was a loud painful process. Sven offered to comb my hair for me but I, a bit too quickly, declined.

Later, while we drank wine and beer I learned more about my hosts. Sven's husband was Jewish. There were two other married gay couples on board, Jan who was throwing the week long trip as a 74th* birthday party, and a number of single women. Everyone was over 60.
Apparently Sven had previously worked as a hairdresser and it was in that capacity that he had offered to comb my hair.

After drinking was dinner with more wine and singing. There were lots of yummy salads.
Thank you Jan for a wonderful rejuvenating evening that I will remember as one of the highlights of my trip.

On the pristine beach I slept like a king.

* I want to stress here that some of the names and numbers are only half remembered from a long joy filled evening.

[gallery type="rectangular" ids="5020,5019,5018,5017,5016,5015,5014,5012,5011,5010,5009,5008,5006,5007,4991,4990"]

Nautical miles paddled: 14
Current location: 36.61781,28.864936

2 comments:

  1. One of the great things about your blog is that you're honest. You write what you think and feel. That is admirable. Personally, I don't see how this post can be construed as offensive. Nor do I see any signs of bigotry, quite the contrary. I am glad you didn't censor.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love it when you make friends, and I'm glad for the fortuitous timing :) Jealous as usual.

    ReplyDelete