GULLIVERS TRAVELS CONTINUED

A compass to guide you...the stars in the sky...the great bear pointing north and the cool sea breeze!!!

Gullivers travels by Jonathan Swift!!!

People remember Capt Jack Sparrow but whatever happened to the original??
We were brought up on Robinson Crusoe...and his ship wreck...The Kon Tiki voyage...the crossing of the pacific on a raft...and these tales i guess have lasted in our memories gradually fading as we are ourselves...being replaced by the newer versions...Pirates of the Carribean,not that i havent watched the series with the same fervour!!!!

I remember one of my travels to this little volcanic island in the Carribean...a part of the Netherland Antilles!!!
ST EUSTATIUS!!!

An island with a population of 800 ppl when i visited it in 2002 and a sikh family running the only general store,living upto the tradition of being enterprising,it was a quiet paradise!!!!

I still remember we had sailed from the English channel during the winter season when the atlantic is at its roughest best but our ship being one of the largest to cross the atlantic and still so small in front of natures fury and after 9 days of sailing the INAGO arrived at its destination in the evening....and what a sight awaited us..frozen in my memory forever!!!
From a distance we could see the sillhouette of the volcano and the sun setting behind it,a reddish sky and the clear blue sea where you could see 300 feet down,the winds blowing at 40 knotts and the waves rolling the ship like a large cradle with its little babies onboard!!!
As we let go anchor the first thought in my mind was to swim ashore to this little quiet paradise island and follow suit the sikh mans example...open a grocery store...competition amongst brothers was not a fair idea!!!
the only thing the whole bay was full of was sailing boats and tiny speed boats as the seaway was the only highway to this paradise.
We finally manoeuvered and after anchoring I rushed to the mate to get his permission to go ashore...n granted it was!!!!
we lowered our little dinghy and the lucky seven along with the capt and the mates wife ventured ashore!!!!!
N what an experience....
Our first stop,call it patriotism,was the general store...where we picked up our cases of beer and having downed them we decided to roam the streets of Statia!!!
Our first stop was the fort on the sea front with its canons still intact pointing out to sea as if warning Jack Sparrow and its team to be careful.
On speaking withy the locals we got to know that this little paradise used to be a haven for the pirates of yore and the population were descendants of the lot that used to come here to hide frm the patrol ships....my mind immediately wandered of to THE BLACK PEARL and its crew stopping here and dividing its wealth...the women n dancing and then a thought struck me and left me dumbfound...was Senor Gags Pauls ancestors a aprt of the notorious pirates???
A SIKH PIRATE OF THE CARRIBEAN???
Made me rather proud!!!!
Dilly Dallying and with a stomach full of beer and some of the most amazing sea food we decided to divide.
The less adventurous lot thought it a good time to head back to the safety of the INAGO whilst three of us daring youngsters decided to check out the night life of this pirates haven!!!!
what happened next is beyond belief and i guess you would just have to read further in my next blog to find out...
FORTUNE FAVOURS THE BRAVE...but then in my case i guess i have never been brave!!!!!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


YO HO HO AND A BOTTLE OF RUM!!!!!

The intentions were clean and we were sailors in a pirates haven with the pretty bar girls in a mystical carribean island so what do we do...decide to get shown to the next whiskey bar!!!!
We asked one of the local women n she told us about this restaurant which turned into an open air club n where all the locals and tourists went to and on asking how to get there she said very simply just ask anyone and give them 5 usd n they will drop you!!!!
I wish it had been that simple.....but what were we...papooses in a strange land!!!!
In the sidereal zone of time...we finally found a decent soul who agreed to drop us to our destination for the 5 usd offered....
By the way our conversation went as such

ME: hey mate can you drop us to the PHOENIX BAR??
MAN:Ik spreek geen Engels(n he nodded his head)
ME:leetle leetle speak Engels??
MAN:yes yes(n he nodded with a fervour which made me think he understood everything)
ME:PHOENIX BAR go 5 USD
MAN:yes yes(n he kept staring at us
ME:car(signalling a steering wheel)
MAN:yes yes

n he disappeared like lightening leaving us standing!!!

N it began to rain...our hopes drenched as much as we were!!!!!!
But there is a god!!!
Very soon our man returned in a red coloured covertible and gestured us to get in...we were in luck!!!!
N promptly he drove us to the PHOENIX BAR!!!
We paid him his 5 USD n he gestured again to us saying he would wait for us n take us back to for another 5 USD!!!
WE HAD OURSELVES A MAN FRIDAY :-D

By the way a phoenix is a mythical bird that is a fire spirit with a colorful plumage and a tail of gold and scarlet (or purple, blue, and green according to some legends). It has a 500 to 1000 year life-cycle, near the end of which it builds itself a nest of twigs that then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix or phoenix egg arises, reborn anew to live again and i could totally relate to know why our place was called THE PHOENIX BAR!!!


The bar was in all the majestic colours of the phoenix and every table had a small bonfire next to it and fresh meat and vegetables roasting and the most amazing women dancing to a live band going from table to table serving liquor...this was heaven..the moment a glass got over the lady came like fire and a new one was reborn!!!

Fifteen men on a dead man's chest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
Drink and the devil had done for the rest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum

Not getting carried away...the women were just good business ladies and made sure they emptied their customers pockets but who cared...we were having a blast!!!
A few kilos of meat and a coupla bottles of liquor down we decided to call it a night and head back on the dinghy to what we called home...THE INAGO!!!

In our free spiritted way and with a tummy full of meat n liquor and a heart full of love we headed out and surely did find our little man in his red convertible waiting!!
This island was truly paradise if there was a paradise on earth...
with difficulty but determination we got ourselves into the car...n the little man started driving!!!
A perfect end to a perfect day...
a good wine is one which starts and ends with a smile and i guess we had gotten our share...

Singing to our hearts content we headed to the jetty through the dark streets of Statia...

As we plummetted the streets suddenly the car screeched and stopped!!!
Ahead there stood a tree trunk...oops a man easily 7 feet tall and four feet wide with an axe in his hand....the little man was trembling and screaming LOPEN LOPEN!!!
I guessed that meant run..cause he opened the door and sprinted...greased lightening!!!
and we sat there watching that tree trunk closing in...

lol
enough for today...i guess we need to sign in again to find out more on gullivers travels
:)
A certain amount of opposition is a great help to a man. Kites rise against, not with, the wind....but we were not kites!!!