My Favourite Things II

There were a lot of things that should have been on the last list, but were somehow missed out. Here's a few more of my favourite things we've done in the last 8 months on Furthur:

1) Swimming with a turtle. We'd anchored the boat for the night out in the Similan Islands, and finished diving for the day. This giant turtle appeared (possibly looking for dinner to be thrown overboard) and swam around the boat for over an hour. We watched, delighted, as he stayed in the area and came close to check us out. Eventually, I slipped quietly into the water to get a closer view as he passed by. A very special moment for me.

2) NYE at Patong Beach, Phuket - hanging out at Paris Hilton's party, stealing life jackets, drinking whiskey on the beach at six am, going to a special adult's show, having our hair sprayed full of silly string and generally acting like teenage delinquents. What a night!

3) Penang - Rosie and I were shown around Georgetown at night by an infamous ex-crew member, Troy, (oh the stories I've heard!) who was an absolute gentleman in the way he  helped us climb over the fence of a temple we broke into (not that I'd encourage that kind of behavior, but the twilight vistas from Kek Lok Si are absolutely fantastic), politely introduced us to the local mafia, gallantly helped us to get drunk, offered his arm as we stumbled around Little India and escorted us back to the boat, all before 4am!

4) Practical jokes, especially the ones that surprise Brian. He's a great target during nap time. Unfortunately these things work both ways, so I'll use the photo of the only successful prank Brian's played on me - waking up with a face covered in shaving cream, to the laughter of Sandra, Anna, Rosie and Venus. Thanks for the support, guys. 

"It doesn't count if you do it before 9am!"

5) Spending all night star gazing, with the help of a neat little Stargazer app on Venus' tablet. It cleverly uses GPS to work out what you're looking at, and helpfully labels all the constellations, planets and some individual stars. There is nothing so fantastic as doing this on the deck of a ship, in absolute darkness, miles and miles from the nearest source of light pollution. 



6) Komodo village - visiting this extremely poor area, where we make a donation to the school, stroll around the houses built on stilts and of course, make balloon animals for children. Brian starts this process - everyone else quickly becomes involved as demand far exceeds output.

"Well how do these things work anyway?"

7) Helping the students from SMK Marine School in Labuan Bajo study. Although they have the strongest desire to learn the skills needed in the nautical world, the school doesn't have very good resources and can use any help they can get. Which is why they let Brian teach some classes. Only joking! He did a fantastic job, and even took out several groups of students on the boat, giving them an opportunity to navigate and steer by themselves - they were thrilled. 

A selection of kids, teachers and crew

8) Flying a pirate ship kite from a boat. One of the neatest purchases to be had in Bali - 50,000 IDR. And worth 10x that in terms of the fun we've had with it. Because we're six years old. And obviously way too cool. Kate, Del and Ronnie.

9) Finding out what was the point in the packet of mustaches my mum sent. Like I said, very cool six year olds. 

10) Watching dolphins fly through the waves beneath the boat. Along with all the other wildlife we get to see on a daily basis, like sea eagles, whales, flying fish, monkeys (swimming monkeys!), Komodo dragons etc 

Hopefully there will be some equally amazing activities, fun crew and more dolphins in my last few months here on the boat.