玲子的航海日記

I woke up early every morning.At 5 o'clock,the sky was still dark.I liked to make a cup of hot tea ,sat on the deck and watched the daybreak.The colors of sky changed from gray to reddish purple then to golden orange.The birds sang heartily at dawn.It was a moment belonged to little me and the beautiful Nature.Then the rodrigues fishermen would row their boat out of the port then sail their handmade black sail.We would wave to each other and say hello.I like this way to start a day. One morning,it was low tide.We could almost walk on the reef.We saw the fishermen hunting for octopuses on the reef.I looked at them curiously."You look like you want to join those fishermen.It's low tide.We can get on the reef easily."said Captain."We can catch one octopus for lunch.What do you think?"I said."It is not easy to catch an octopus but you can try." I wore my HUNTING SUIT and took a pole and a bucket with me."Let's go octopus hunt!" We got a big one.(Acturally,we...bought it from the fisherman.)It was so big that I didn't know how to cook it.Yuuki said that we should hit it before we cook it."Hit it?"I said.Um...how to HIT an octopus? I took a little wood plank and was going to HIT it."Wait! Rinko Chan! You look like a gangster who is going to attack this poor octopus.Let me show you a smarter way."said Captain Hiro.

Captain used the empty wine bottle to hammer the octopus.He looked like a good cook.I had to admit that Captain's way was much more civilized than mine.
That afternoon, Captain Hiro invited Ian and Jean from Yacht Ocean Spray to have dinner on board.I was the COOK.Now I had a reason to GO SHOPPING in the local market.In the local market,you could always find something fresh and special there.I liked to try the local ingrediants.It was like an experiment and sometime it came up with a good meal.When I saw the fresh vegetables ,fruits and bread,I was out of control like a shopaholic.I bought a lot of food and it looked like each of us had four stomaches to have them.HA!
Captain Ian and his wife ,Jean,were in their sixties.They gave us a big piece of fish they caught and shared us their old photo album.They told us a lot of interesting stories and the problems they got along their sailing trip.One night,they sailed near an island of Indonesia,Jean was on night duty and suddenly she smelled something strange in the air.The air was very dusty and dry.Then they found there was a volcano eruption on that island.They sailed away and kept a safe distance from the island.It must be a very special feeling to watch a volcanic mountain erupting in a silent and dark night on the sea.They got some accidents on the Indian Ocean and their autopilot was broken.They had to take turns to drive their boat for almost one week.When they got Rodrigues,they were very exhausted and had to take a long rest to get their energy back.Captain Ian and Jean were two humourous elders with young hearts.