A lazy day at sea. I did my “Famous And Not So Famous Pirates and other Pirate Stuff” today. There was a good crowd on hand, and a lively time of questions and answers afterwards. Probably the most questions I’ve ever been asked at one of these talks. A couple of the questions were outside my “area of expertise” – like the pirates of the Barbary Coast, and the Somali pirates – and I said so, although I was able to contribute a little bit to the questions.
When asked who my favorite pirate was, I immediately answered, “Roberto Clemente!” That answer got a round of applause – must be more than one Bucco fan onboard – or more than one person who recognizes a great baseball player and great humanitarian. Then someone followed up with, “Who is your favorite pirate from the Golden Age of piracy?” I answered “Black Bart,” because he took more ships and more treasure than all of the others we’ve been talking about combined.
Actually, I have a sneaking admiration for Ching I Sao, a female pirate from China, who at one time had 1500 ships and 80,000 men under her flag. She is technically outside the Golden Age, but her influence was so great that the Chinese government sued for peace, and gave in to all of her terms.
I have been going to “High Tea” each day. Bonnie allows as how she doesn’t like tea, so she won’t go. The tea is nothing spectacular – it is Lipton’s. I’d rather they have Earl Grey, hot, but when in Rome ... The main reason I go is for the little scones, biscuit like creations, that you slather in clotted cream and jam. Yum! They also have cookies and small sandwiches, but I usually stick to the scones.
Several of my table mates today had attended one or another of my talks, and they gave me a big head complimenting me. I’ve done some small changes in the Pirates talks, and a major overhaul of Curacao and Fort Lauderdale. So far, I’ve been pleased, but as long as the audience is happy, it must be going ok.
The photograph is of the Crown Princess (to the right) and a ship of the Holland America line, the Zuiderdam. The Zuiderdam was literally backing out of Santa Anna Bay in Curacao, and I liked the composition of the two ships. The color isn’t natural. I played with a Photoshop like program.
Tomorrow sometime will be the Fort Lauderdale talk, and then the next day, we will be back in Fort Lauderdale, our journey half completed.
This is formal night, and we are going to go to a couple of shows after dinner, so I will post this edition early, and catch up on any new doings tomorrow.
TTFN!
No comments:
Post a Comment