Swimming
Naked Mammals
10
Jan 10
It’s
been such a long while since I last wrote an article. So for this
entry, I wanna write about my adventures as a pirate. Yes, as strange
as it may sound, this Malay bunny guy once sailed the seven seas
and had intimate relationships with mermaids. No lah.. What kind
of pirate do you think I am? Wait! That will actually make a good
poll question! |
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moving along now, the experience that I wanna share with you does
involve some sea water and a floating raft. This took place years
ago while I was in the US. I was working for months on yet another
idea-project (as always), and I thought a much needed break is
in order. I wanted to do something outdoorsy apart from the usual
cycling. I surfed the net and I glimpsed on an ad:
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Hmmm..
I’ve never actually seen dolphins or whales upfront before
and Captain Jeff sounds like he knows what he’s doing
soo.. why not. ^-^ I chose a 2 hour Whale/Dolphin watching safari
plan for the price of USD$55. It burnt a huge hole in my wallet
but hey, I can easily get the money back by eating cat food
for the next 2 weeks :P
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Fast
forward 2 weeks and I am at this bay area in Orange County. I
was amazed by the place because it’s obviously well planned
out. Instead of a straight beach with sand, they have a dock for
yachts and boats, a space for swimmers, BBQ pits and even houses
on cliffs etc. It’s not as predictable as compared to say….
East Coast. Smack that with good weather, you have an awesome
place to live. I did contemplate to move there but after checking
the rent in that area, let’s just say my sea side living
dream will not be realized anytime soon. Haha. |
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Look
at all the boats! |
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More
boats. |
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was like 20 people in the group. Our boat was this raft with 2 tubes
at the side kinda ferry-yacht-thing.. I was kinda disappointed because
I thought I can ride a pirate ship.. I mean, I saw 2 anchored near
the beach. But the biggest disappointment was Captain Jeff himself.
He was just a white dude wearing a t-shirt and bermudas. And he
got no eye patch. How can you call yourself a captain when you have
2 healthy eyes? And where is your hook? Well, at least he got a
parrot sitting on his shoulder. No lah bluff you. Parrot also he
don’t have:( |
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I thought
we gonna sail on this thing.
I can be in charge of the refreshments and firing of canons. |
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This is the boat I took. It's called a catamaran.
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360
degrees View |
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| After
giving a short talk about safety, “Captain” Jeff and
his assistant sailed the boat to the open sea. Only 20 mins passed
and I was already feeling queasy because of the seasickness. Then
soon, a large group of dolphins, around 20-30 passed by us. It’s
tough to take good pictures of these buggers because they swim up
and down fast. Most of the people on board have those huge lens
SLR shutter-speed-aperture-control type of camera, but for me, I
just whack with my digital camera lah. |
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From
all the numerous shots of dolphins I shot, this is the best pic
I got. I know.. it's pathetic. Most of the dolphins are underwater
:P |
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Another
pathetic shot. Trust me, those ripples are made by dolphins. |
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| I
expect some dolphins to jump up high and do a back flip but I realized
that these wild dolphins are not here to entertain human beings
unlike the ones in Sea World. However, I did catch some baby dolphins
throw itself up in the air and land funny. The whales on the other
hand are really tough to spot. Captain Jeff and his assistant would
radio to other dolphin watcher ships and spend a lot of time on
their binoculars. When they do catch a glimpse of a whale's huge
tail, a fin, an elbow etc. they will race to the spot. By the time
we reach there, the whale will be gone and we have to wait for yet
another glimpse of the whale exposing yet another part of his body…
and we would race there once again… and this will go on like
what, 45 mins? Bloody whales.. so big yet so shy. Catch you and
make whale fin soup then you know. >_< |
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| Apart
from groups of dolphins and an elusive whale, we did spot a sun
fish and a bunch of brown mermaids sun bathing on a buoy. At the
end of the day, I realized that 2 hours maybe a bit too long cause
the rest of the time was me trying to compose myself not to puke
and eating my sandwich. But I did enjoy being on a boat and having
clean sea breeze smack on my face. Plus Captain Jeff gave everyone
on board a brownie. What more can you ask? :) That beats a day in
the office anytime. :D
Shiver me timbers?
Evil Bunny!
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That
is not a plastic bag. It is a sun fish :P |
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Brown
mermaids basking in the sun. |
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