The Quiet Ripple Defines The Pond

The Summer edition of The Marine Quarterly arrives on the day I set off to Miyako Jima to look at a boat. Hooray, I can read it on the flight down and like get in the mood.

Boarding

I get to Miyako Jima, eat soba and read more sea stories.

So here is the story. The Norfolk Gypsy is a very fine boat.

http://www.neilthompsonboats.co.uk/norfolk-range/norfolk-gypsy/

Amazingly, one turns up on  a Japanese-second-hand-boat-web-site. It is high and especially dry in the fishing harbor of Miyako Jima.

https://goo.gl/maps/m7mjnCpDioK2

This is a long way from Norfolk. So, should I ditch my faithful Scaffie who never done me wrong and take up with a fancy new boat? I feel sleazy as I set off to check out her lines.

Anyway the owner, the delightful Taguchi san, speaks no English and as you know, my Japanese has got no further than, “Can you lend me 10,000 yen please?” My amazing luck holds good as a colleague mentions that he has a good friend on Miyako who is a Japanese/English interpreter. This is how I get to know the wonderful Saemi. She meets me at the hotel on Friday morning and off we go to the fishing harbor. Both of us are tremendously excited.

She has been here for 4 years.

Taguchi san!

Saemi!

So, the boat is a total mess and I think she has crossed the point of no return.

4 years of blazing sun and typhoons

Will she ever thunka thunka again?

Mainsail will need replacing. Red bits are patched tears.

Every bit of woodwork, every pulley, every cleat has been unscrewed and stored, hence strips of sticking plaster everywhere.

There are lots of boxes of screws and bolts inside the boat. Putting it back together will be like building a 747 out of lego with no instructions.

The bottom line is that restoring the boat is doable but is a full time job for some months and lotsa cash. I have to go to work.

The decision lies with the Japanese government. If I get a residence permit, then post retirement, this would be fun to do.

Anyway,  I then go and rent a scooter.

More fun in the scooter shop.

Miyako is beautiful.

It is very hot.

I eat a Mango ice cream thing. This shows how hot it is. I never eat ice cream.

Beautiful Scaffie is unbetrayed.

Saturday morning – I tootle off to the Toya fish market. It is 10 mins from the house.

Cockles and mussels

The market lasts about 15 minutes. I starts at 10:00 and the auctioneer rushes around selling off the various lots to what I assume to be restaurant owners and the like. I try to buy an octopus but am politely told that I am not a member of the club.

Members Only

So I amble over to the shed where sashimi is cut up. I buy 2 red fish that are delicious deep fried and an octopus.

Red fish bottom left.

Totally fresh. I didn’t buy any of these but now wish I had

I also get some of the best fast food in the world: squid and fish tempura, cooked in front of you and put into a nice white paper bag.

50 cents a hit for fresh seafood. Oichi!

Munching tempura, I drive slowly home feeling good. I n a tiny back street I fall upon a newly opened wine store! Okinawa is a good place to live.

I think it is called “Un Deux Trois” but I took the photo from the wrong angle and cannot see the sign.

This hard to believe. Cerdon is an obscure pinkish vin petillant that is produced in small quantities in the Bugey. Drank it some in Geneva days. Now I can get it in Yomitan!

Young couple running the place are wild eyed with enthusiasm and high levels of milk of human kindness. I hope it works for them. I buy a Rioja and a Rose, can’t find accents on Japanese keyboard, de Provence. Quality of life remarkably high. Unfortunately no wind and drizzle-ish.

Orchids in kitchen doing well

P.S.   I forgot to mention that the charming couple lent me an umbrella as it was pouring. I take it back today. As soon as I leave the shop, there is a downpour. Someone wanted me wet.

This French

“Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathom’d caves of ocean bear:
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.”

Thank you Thomas Gray.

I cannot let these incredible sunsets blush unseen.

Shnurt!

Grunt!

Whee!

Kapow!

I sit on the beach and watch.

So, we will move away from evacuation zone to my ingestion zone. One of my teeth disintegrated a few weeks ago and today I go to have  a crown glued on.

The two ladies take exquisite pains to get everything just right. The crown is taken off for adjustment and then replaced many, many times. They slip little sheets of colored paper between my teeth and say, “Biteu or kash, kash, kash or giri, giri, giri.” depending on whether they want me to bite down, to tap or to grind. My dentistry Japanese is good.

Finally after endless adjustment, the crown seating is presented to the next level of power, who fiddles and grinds a bit and pronounces approval. Then the head honcho is called. He sniffs and tweaks and gives the green light. I am amazed by their extreme diligence.

When the going was good. Iha san on the left.

The totally delightful Iha san glues on the crown. She summons the head honcho who looks at it and goes Japanese cosmic. Moans and grunts from honcho, howls from Iha san inform me that something is not right. She has stuck the crown in like wrong. She is in bits.

I do my best to console her but the emotional level is very high. It looks like they will have to cut up the crown and start the treatment afresh – new mould, new crown manufacture, back to square one. To tell you the truth, I have little grasp of what is going on however middle power brings a tool which is hammer-ish and lo she knocks the crown off.

Crown subsequently stuck on properly and I can go. I was in the chair for over 2 hours. Poor Iha san.

Yep, he was amazing. We watched all his fights on a black and white TV as a family. We all loved him. RIP compadre.

Wind misaligned for Tern Island.  Tides misaligned also. Who cares? The summer has just begun and sailing pleasure has just begun.

Here is one of my orchids.

There was the lowest tide of the year today, which had a major impact on sailing stuff. Late in the afternoon I get away.

Not much wind but very restorative.

It is a greyish evening and I do not expect much of a sunset, so I tie up to the mooring and swim home.

I now wish I had stayed out at sea.

Check the sun creeping out of the cloud.

You never know 

Insane

James gave me this many years ago. I love it. I have no time for mechanized tire bouchons

Much was planned for today. The voyage up the coast to photograph Terns has been clouding my judgement since I was informed that clouds of Roseate and Black Naped Terns arrived last Friday.

I spring from the futon early, only to recognize that the spell of the enchanted vial is still strong. Six hours on an open boat far from facilities could be  er, uncomfortable.

I abandon sailing and embrace diving. First dive of the year!  I stumble out over the low tide lagoon and lower my huge bulk into the embrace of deep water.

Still Life

Mummy little blue fish with lots of baby  little  blue fish. Click on the photos

Its amazing down here!

Pretty  fish

Calling out around the world.

It is wonderful to be underwater again. Just in front of my house is the epicenter of Bat Fish er, around here. They are rare.

It is incredible to get so close.

Holy wet cat in a tree Batman!

Can this be real?

Anyway, after that I went for a sail around the place.

The mast rises

I shake out the reef.

Winged chariot

Summer!

So, today’s adventure started last night when I swallowed the enchanted vial.

Enchanted vial on the right.

I woke up in this  morning and went to the lavatory. It was not really my choice as the enchanted vial had done its stuff. I then swallow 1.8 liters of laxative slime, which is actually not that easy. I mean that is like 4pints and a wee half. The effect is spectacularly cleansing and I wonder why I do not do this at least once a week. Anyway, I am ready: colonoscopy time!

Those of you who do not want to see the inside of my intestines, leave now.

Higa san!

I am in safe hands. Yonamine sensei on the right, steers the boat.

Off we go on a wild ride around my lower intestine. The operating room is a bit like a sports bar with high def screens everywhere all showing the inner truth of my colon. I mean, what a great way to spend an afternoon. I mean everyone has been to Machu Pichu and Ankor Wat but how many people have cruised around their intestines in 1080?

The road to ruin

Hai!! is the cry as we spot a reasonably sized polyp. The Swiss Army Knife thing is introduced and using the special polyp cutting tool, Yonamine sensei snips it off. The crowd go crazy.

Google Map. It is not easy to get around those bends.

Top right is before, a veritable polyp. Bottom right is after.  Polyp fragged. Return to base.

Anyway, as usual it is the best fun and what’s more, I do not have cancer.

This is the first ever selfie taken during a colonoscopy!

So, it is Sunday and I look forward to a wonderful day of long cruising through the azure; like what I would have done yesterday had I not been working.

But as fate would have it, the wind ratchets up several notches and the early morning sail is unrelaxed.

Even with a reef, the Scaffie is a handful

So I retreat,  sit at anchor and determine to right little wrongs.   I just like being on a boat. When at anchor, the rudder has to be immobilized so that it does not clatter from side to side causing trouble. I have tried several methods; the best being to use the traveller as a point of attachment.

The traveller is the rope going from bottom left to top right.

The problem is that this method wears a groove into the tiller and this cannot be good.

Groovy

I decide to wrap a band of leather around the tiller such that the groove is protected. This is great fun.

At work. It is very windy and very hot.

I love Opinels. This one I have sharpened to beyond razor. Super X is the best glue in the world.

I spread glue on the leather and then sprinkle little diamonds on it.

A great step for mankind

New system using sail tie.

Whew, what a relief. No need to worry about the tiller. Now I worry about the mooring, which comprises two anchors in tandem.

Main anchor. Notice chain leading to the second anchor

Second anchor. Click on the photo and you will see lots of pretty little fish.

So I do not think I need to worry about the mooring. I swim back and stop to say hello to my favorite family of Clown Fish.

Mine’s a pint

I like to have a project.

I love this time of year

“Moromitsu is a fermented vinegar made from moromi, a by-product of Awamori, Okinawa’s traditional liquor. It’s like the mash left over after distillation. Moromitsu does not contain any alcohol

Some of the benefits accorded to Moromitsu are reduced blood sugar level, lower cholesterol readings, and it is touted even helping to burn body fat. According to Japan Food Analysis Center study, Moromitsu contains plenty of vitamin B1, B2 and B6, minerals such as iron, calcium, potassium, magnesium and amino acids. It is also rich in citric acids.”

So, I had better get some. Apparently you can drink it at any time of day. A nice glass of vinegar before going to bed sounds good.

A bottle of Morimitsu surrounded by, Umi-budo, Goya and some fish with ham in it.

Luckily we have organized an event.

Gakiya san!

Series of talks about the science of food and a market with lots of Okinawan specialities.

Big success. The Minister for Science Stuff, who is also the Minister for Okinawa, comes and drinks Morimitsu. This guarantees funding for the university for the next few years. I also score  a bottle and some veg.

The sub plot however is that today is the best sailing day that there has ever been. Blue, blue sea and sky, 28 degrees, fresh cross breeze. I am going to miss it.

As soon as I can politely escape, I zoom home, conscious of tide going out. Will I get there before the boat dries out?

The answer is no. Work is so annoying

My Hibisci are doing very well

I am determined to take the boat out but as the sun slips below the horizon, she is still stuck fast. I take photos of the rock in front of the house.

Like a camel

HAMLET        Do you see yonder rock that’s almost in shape of a camel?
POLONIUS        By the mass, and ’tis like a camel, indeed.
HAMLET        Methinks it is like a weasel.
POLONIUS        It is backed like a weasel.
HAMLET        Or like a whale?
POLONIUS        Very like a whale

The sun goes down

Little by little the tide comes back in. I heave the Scaffie to deeper water and finally we are free!

Fine wind

It is warm and very quiet. I sail.

I switch on the light

I cannot really see anything, but I know the lagoon very well. The stars come out. I steer home and even manage to pick up the mooring in the pitch dark

All in all, a good day.

My neighbor, as what invited me to the yagi party, comes over and lures me to the dead tree.

Totally dead

He speaks no English. I speak no Japanese. We like each other. I quickly understand that he is asking me to cut down the dead tree. He then takes me over to his house, points out various lights and makes  whining noises and fast hand movements. We then go to my house, he identifies the outside lights, and makes the same sounds and movements.

I get it, he is worried that when the tree is felled, it will fall onto either his or my outside lights. This should be avoided.

I go into a long mime of how we can fell the tree such that it falls into the Jurassic vegetation that separates us from the sea.  No worries.

Hmmm, my neighbor  looks unrequited. I play my trump card – Hisashi!  He lives above me and comes down to clear things up.

Here is what is really happening. My neighbor, whose yagi party was to celebrate his retirement from the police force, points out that the dead tree is infested with termites. Said termites sprout wings and cluster in huge numbers around lights at night. This is true.

So let’s cut down the tree to eliminate the termite plague. Simple really.

Nothing out of the ordinary. No wind. Can’t take the boat out.

Guy fishing tonight. I wish you luck my friend