According to the forecast, the sea conditions looked good, so yesterday morning we got ready to go and headed out around 1230. Shortly after pulling out, someone came on the radio calling out a “Securite! Securite! We have a situation at X coordinates. There is a load of bananas in the water”. Then a few minutes later, we heard someone calling the “Banana Port Control” for permission for the “monkey ship to enter”. Oh no. Is the Monkey Boy (the radio abuser aboard some ship) back? Or just people making fun of him? The banana talk died, and we thought no more of it.

Seas were relatively calm and it has been a smooth and uneventful ride. Our speeds were excellent given the RPM. With the exception of currents, our speed really is determined by the wave height. The smaller the waves, the faster we go.

The sunset was spectacular once again, turning into a bright red glow of fire and casting a soft pink glow on the sea.

At 2100, the Monkey Boy came onto the radio. Sigh. It really was him earlier. He started by calling out “Mayday! Mayday from the banana boat!”, then started talking abut various orifices that it is possible to put a banana inside, imitating monkey noises, making racial slurs targeted at the crew of passing ships, making suggestions about things to do with the wives and mothers of the people aboard passing ships, and so forth. And of course, there were people responding to him, either positively or negatively, both of which just egg the guy on. Hopefully, he will be out of range soon.

Early this morning the wind and waves picked up just a little. The waves are noticeably sharper than they were yesterday. It is still an overall good ride, just bumpier than yesterday.

We got two distress calls throughout the day, both of which were genuine. In both cases we were too far away to help out. Otherwise, the radio was quiet overall. As soon as it got dark, the people screwing around got started. Maybe it helps them stay awake on their night watches. Tonight we got assorted animal sounds, we think some from the Monkey Boy and some from others joining in. The one we think was the Monkey Boy had a lot of static, so that means he will be out of range soon. Thank goodness.

On most passages we talk a lot about food, and this one is no exception. We are excited about real Italian food. Italian food, at least pizza and pasta, has been readily available every place we have been to, except maybe in the smallest villages. We can definitely get an Italian food fix just about any time we want, but the quality of the food is usually not the greatest. We are excited about the good quality food.

In case you are wondering, you can also get Pringles potato chips (crisps) just about everywhere in the world, though some places they are quite expensive. You can also come by KFC and Pizza Hut pretty easily. We have seen a lot more KFC’s and Pizza Huts than we have McDonald’s throughout the world.

And, onto a couple of blog questions:

Q: Your account of the security in Port Ghalib is surprising. I’m not sure if I’ve just gotten the wrong impression, or it truly is that exceptional. I can’t imagine that kind of security here in Los Angeles.

A: Yes, the security in Port Ghalib was exceptional. We believe it is because the marina has a zillion staff members and no boats. They have nothing else to do than watch our boat! In LA, there is probably one guy on duty and a couple hundred boats. No way to compare the two. As the marina gets busier, the exceptional security may change.

Q: Didn’t Napoleon’s soldiers also use the Sphinx for target practice and shoot off the nose or is that an urban legend?

A long time ago on the Art Bell Show they had this guy that could look into the future or something and he was talking about all of these tunnels that were under the Sphinx and how the most amazing library if information would be found there. That was years and years ago. Recently Zahi Hawass (sp?) announced about some extensive tunnels being found under the Sphinx but I didn’t hear anything was found there. I’m sure if Art Bell was still on the radio there would have been all kinds of fun stories about it =)

A: The story about Napoleon’s people using the sphinx as target practice and shooting off the nose is half true. Napoleon revered the Egyptian ruins and would have never allowed such a thing. It was the Ottoman Turks who used the Sphinx as target practice — the same group who dismantled the pyramids beautiful casing to build their citadel and tried to tear down one of the pyramids. The Ottomans seemed to have no respect for the ancient ruins. They also sold off lots of ancient Greek, Roman and Egyptian artifacts, and there is a lot of world wide controversy about whether or not these artifacts should be required to be returned to the home countries.

That is interesting about the Art Bell show. There are likely more tunnels to be found under the Sphinx and it seems likely they would have information in them.