Steps

It is weird; how for months there is no desire at all to even clean up the workspace, let alone do any work on the little Sherpa ship.

But somehow yesterday and today it was there. The feeling inside, the elephant we cannot control: the "must work on little ship" feeling.

So the shop was "cleaned" and organized a bit first. Then today the starboard and port (half) stringers were fitted and glued into place.

As you can see the second stringers are half stringers; i cut 1x1 cm stringers and let them soak in water and formed the curve (instead of letting it flat). The little ship has a very bendy hull so to prevent snapping and splinters flying around I opted for a pre-bend of the pitch-pine.  I also hope to make the fitting of the other half easier because they will already have something to clamp to.

The stringers hanging from the ceiling will have to be patient...

Empty paradise

Flag, Asimov and learning

Today Aruba celebrates her Flag and Anthem. 

Of course all the festivities have been cancelled. The last few tourists are leaving the island. Tomorrow the RIU for example will be empty. They have about 800 rooms. All contractors are already sent home and the employees will hear tomorrow what will happen to them.  Without our guests what remains of our little paradise in the Caribbean? We can use the time to polish it up while we now have a chance. We could fix our water treatment system which is 40 years old, breaking apart and not big enough for the amount of rooms.

The first death happened in our sister island of Curacao today. We have 125 persons in quarantine. 

I believe it was one of Asimov's stories which talks about humans as the true viruses in this world.  The last 50 years we have grown (exponentially) so fast and smothering the Earth with CO2 and our other waste products...  Are we being shown how that must feel?  What lessons are we to learn? 

After all this mess it will be interesting to see how much we have learnt from all this and have grown up to be more responsible.

Eerie

Empty incoming flights, empty restaurants, much fewer people from huge cruise ships...  The first two cases have been registered. The clock is ticking while we do not know how many invisible cases there are. Fear pops up. Eventually we will get through this. In the mean time, Spray and Pray.

When this is all over we will be ready to receive our guests again.

A sign, doom and frogs

Clouds obstructed direct rays hitting the island this morning. The air was strange and hazy. I looked up and saw a large ring around the sun, like a perfect rainbow but in a circle. Something to do with water particles up in the atmosphere. Some say it is a sign from the Gods. Not sure what kind of sign, good or bad.

We are entering the seasonal Quarisma period, high winds, sometimes paired with two drops of rain. They say the Quarisma blows away the evil spirits from the island.

We need that now. The hourly updates from the world sweltering with this COVID-19 wave and subsequent economic disruptions are scary. As a small island we hold our breath since we could not handle an Italian situation here.  If this thing grabs hold here, with an incubation period of 3-4 weeks, the entire island will be infected before the first symptoms show.  But I am not a virologist, medical doctor or anything close. So do not take my doom scenario seriously.

I do study organizations and systems. On that level I am fascinated how one flu-virus scares us so much that we change universally with the result that CO2 emissions are lowered and the saudis and russians dump their oil... things which seemed impossible before all of a sudden "are possible". It just shows us what we are capable of if shit really hits the fan.  It reminds me of the boiling water and frog parable.

I am rambling, probably because of the Quarisma blowing through my brain. I hope it blows away the fear and all virusses with it from this island.

Update: It is called a "halo". An old local lady told me "it is a sign of God to show his Power to us. And to make us realize all our pity full things we do here on earth." She pointed her finger up... oh boy. We are in deep sh.t.

It is a beautiful sight though:

Death, Ocean, Life

"Pau" I do not know personally but some of his friends who are still looking for him I do. Two days ago he was lost at sea while spearfishing around "baho", a shallow area between Aruba and Venezuela.

These Arubans have my respect. They live from the sea, in the sea. Many die by her. My friend Albert, who stopped going out to look for Pau told me how he himself barely survived a rough ocean two weeks ago, his boat sank after one engine quit working... thanks to his vhf mayday being heard by Venezuelan coast guard.  We shared that the probable loss of Pau is God's work; it could be any of us.

(Updated 202003031730: Pau's lifeless body has been found on the Colombian coast. Condolences to family and friends.)
(Updated 202003041010: News reports from Colombia do not validate that the body has been found. The three friends who went to get him were arrested by Venezuelan Coast Guard due to trespassing territorial waters. To be continued.)

Yesterday I sailed for the second time in 19 months. Hoping for a nice 15 knot easy sail the wind was nothing like that at all. 25 knots on the ocean. I felt fear from the start. Silly, but I have to admit it. What if the the mast comes down? What if the centerboard breaks off? What if I tip over? Out of fear and carefulness I sailed with jib and mizzen only. The main stayed rolled on boom.  Was it all the stories about the ocean taking lives that spooked me? Was it because of the long time not being on the ocean? What is important is that I went out anyway. Many reasons not to go out, family time, work to be done, visit friends and family... Still I pushed through and went out. Push the fear on the water and do not let it control me. 


The wind was very blustery and pushing the gunwale underwater at least 4 times, with so little sail up. But nothing dramatic happened. Vanessa never tipped over, the centerboard stuck to the boat, the mast did not budge and my fear has crawled back in its black hole. There were some awe inspiring moments out there, especially the intense blue of the ocean, the 7 different tortuga heads popping up and diving quickly at seeing my bow approaching, the big birds trying to lift a dead snapper out of the water... and the feeling of being pushed forward by Nature's power while looking at how beautiful it all is.

Webb is preparing some trip(s); different destinations and journeys start to appear in his mind.  I am silently awaiting to see and read about the solemn Louise ceremony.  The ocean is our temple.