Pirate Tales

July 15, 2016

Pirate Tales

Day 22 – July 5, 2016

Tuesday

3pm

I’m sitting in my little cabin on board the Prince II Indochina Junk Boat, slowly plodding through the beautiful, mystical, jagged islands of Bai Tu Long Bay in Vietnam. I feel like I could be living hundreds of years ago, traveling in a cabin that would look very much the same, seeing countryside and people that would look very similar too.

I’m a bit groggy from our stormy night last night. Yesterday the bay was totally calm. Overcast with a little sprinkle here and there, but totally calm when we went to bed. I woke up around 3:30am from the thunder and lightning outside getting louder and louder. I thought I could sleep through it with my earplugs but suddenly lightning struck and a clap of thunder roared so loud that I literally jumped out of bed. It was right on top of us. The kids were curled up in their rooms, scared to death. Calvin said “I am scared out of my mind right now,” as he calmly walked across the two foot hallway to check on the little boys. It was pouring rain. Monsoon rains. Lighting and thunder were all around us and right on top of us. We tried to go back to sleep but none of us really could. Mikey snuggled in bed with Jeff and I and the other kids all piled into the same room. The ceilings and windows were leaking, dripping water onto our beds and floors so we shoved towels and found empty garbage cans to collect the rain. I started to get a little nervous when the crew was running around the boat, yelling commands at each other in Vietnamese and told us to please go back to our rooms. The wind had picked up and we were getting dangerously close to the rocky island behind us, and the Junk boat tied up to the anchor with us. They ran back and forth in their ponchos, untying ropes and starting the engines, drenched from the rain, while the thunder and lightning struck all around us. We spent the next few hours with the engines running and the captain putting us in forward and reverse and trying to keep us in a safe place in the protected bay. First light came around 5am. The curtains in our room had been left open while we were watching the lightning. Kira and Jeff were watching out of the window when they saw a bolt of lightning strike the cliffs of the island right next to us and a chunk of rock break off and fall into the water. It was nuts! By 8 or so the storm had mostly passed and we had fallen back to sleep for an extra hour of sleep.

By ten there was only a light drizzle left and it was time to go sea kayaking through the islands. It was a longer paddle than yesterday, we kayaked for nearly two hours. The kids did great. I was so impressed with how well they did. It down-poured again while we kayaked. Not as crazy as last night, but still a good drenching. We explored a little cave, kayaked through a rock archway and passed dozens of fishing boats with families living aboard. Our guide (Dung – prounounced Zoong) told us that these families live on their boats year round. That is their house. We saw six or seven boats tied together and families working, cleaning fish. They all had laundry hanging on the end, out in the pouring rain. We saw a small lady with a traditional Vietnamese hat, rowing an ancient row-boat along the edge of one of the islands, all alone. I thought you would have seen the same sight a hundred years ago.

We ended the kayak trip back at a little strip of sand on one of the islands where we beached the kayaks and swam and played in the sand while the crew set up a full BBQ lunch for us. The chef brought over a little portable wrought iron grill and they fired up the charcoal and grilled prawns, chicken wings, pork ribs, fish and squid. They served a jicama cilantro salad that was amazing and a sticky fried rice. Lunch was served at a fully set table with linens and two waiters. It rained during lunch so they set up three umbrellas for us to eat under. We felt so spoiled. It was pretty awesome. Thankfully they also served some fresh fruit so Isaac and Mikey pretty much just ate the bananas and a few bites of the chicken wings. They have been such troopers. It’s been so hard for them to eat the strange food. It is way out of their comfort zone and there is really no opportunity to get other food. They have a few packages of oreos and pringles for sale on the boat so they will pretty much live off of that and a few bites at each meal. Last night the staff was so kind and made them some toast and scrambled eggs. But the scrambled eggs had cut up peppers and Isaac refused to eat that too. Kate, Calvin and Kira have been awesome. They have tried every single food they have brought us, even when it was fried oyster paddies with slimy oysters oozing out of a deep fried crab-cake style thing. Or squid, or octopus, or whole shrimp with the eyeballs popping out. I am so impressed!

Now we are making our way to a cave that we will hike to. It is still raining, so we are all staying dry in our rooms while reading, writing or watching movies.

9pm

We visited a cool cave this afternoon. It was up on one of the islands. There were stalactites and stalagmites and water trickling down from the ceiling everywhere from the rain seeping through the limestone. The company, Indochina Junk, had electricity brought to the cave so they could light it up and the bigger boat tours do dinner in the cave. Apparently the fisherman used to live in the cave until Indochina Junk and the government came and helped fund moving them to a floating village to preserve the caves and to unite the fisherman and provide some basic needs, especially storm warnings during typhoons.

Dinner was enormous and really delicious. We have eaten so much on this cruise. You almost feel obligated to. The chef is working for hours each day to prepare all of these 5 and 7 course meals. Then when the kids barely touch it, you feel like it would be rude to not eat stuff, so I have eaten tons of seafood and random things just to be polite. Most of it is really good but the volume is ridiculous! I can feel myself inflating each day. I am going to have to go home and do Tsogo straight for a week or two to recover. And it’s good food, but definitely not the kind of food worth gaining weight on!

Fingers crossed for some calm weather tonight.

Dog pile on Dad!

Kayaking in a stormy bay with thunder in the distance is quite an adventure!

It poured rain for a good half an hour!

It was raining so hard it was hard to keep your eyes open. I was grateful it wasn't too windy!

Exploring a little lagoon.

Watching the fisherman pulling in their nets.

Finding caves along the shoreline.

Swimming at the beach while the chef prepares our BBQ lunch.

Kira and Calvin are seriously best friends. I am so grateful they get along so well. And they are such good examples and so helpful to their younger siblings. I think Calvin grew at least an inch on this trip. He is taller than both Kira and me now!