Notes from Stephen, Wan, Kweilin, and Li

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Ikan Terbang: jumping fish; seasick; re-learning french; attentive crew

We took off from the Labuan Bajo port early this morning for our first dive site.

My father, my sister, and I did three dives today but my mother stayed in the boat because she has yet to get her PADI license. She's been sleeping and trying to stay well while we're diving. She really wants her PADI license now that she's heard our stories about the beautiful fish and coral that we see on the dives.

We've been seeing schools of fish jumping at the surface of the water as if someone had sprinkled fish food on them. Jerome says that they could be tuna. Maybe they're feeding, but I don't know what they're feeding on.

We've also seen flying fish jump out of the water. What a sight that is. They really look like little birds zipping along the water. Unlike the fish in a feeding frenzy, the flying fish are actually going somewhere with their jumps, and the whole school is synchronized.

The crew fishes while the boat motors. They've caught three little fish so far and they ate two raw.

Two Indonesians help Maurice and Jerome on the boat. Depa is the captain, who mans the tiller, and Darna is the machinist, who refills the scuba tanks with the air compressor.

My father, mother, and sister have all felt seasick at various points today. My mom made herself vomit several times in attempts to eliminate her nausea. Lying on the hammock helped her get better. We've changed the diving itinerary so that we stay in a calm bay tonight to let us recover.

Jerome and Maurice cooked chicken curry and potatoes for lunch. Yummy.

Every water faucet on the boat is a foot pump, including the shower and toilet. To shower, for example, I hold the shower head above me and pump with my foot.

Only the clients use the shower and toilet, though. The crew pees and poops over the side of the boat and showers on deck with buckets of sea water.

Fresh water is like gold on a boat, says Jerome. The crew only uses it for cooking and drinking. They shower, wash clothes, and even wash rice in sea water.

This trip is turning out to be an immersion in French for Kweilin and me. Jerome and Maurice speak a little English, but it's often easier for us to converse in French. Jerome and Maurice are patient when we try to express ourselves in painfully slow, broken French, and they choose simple French words when they speak to us. Our French is slowly coming back!

Kweilin and I sang songs tonight for an hour. We sang Shi Wu de Yue Liang, Simon and Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, and Beatles. Jerome sang along with Imagine and Sound of Silence.

Jerome made us a fresh sirsak juice before dinner. He mixed together some sirsak and ice and sugar in a blender. It tastes kind of like passion fruit. What a treat!

Maurice showed me how to eat passion fruit this afternoon. I'd never had one before. A passion fruit is a round fruit about half the size of my fist. It has a kind of crusty, orange outside peel and a soft, white inside peel. I cut it in half and sucked out the insides, which is a bunch of crunchy seeds in a transparent goo. The taste is sweet and citrusy.

Jerome and Maurice are amazingly attentive to us. The fresh fruit juice is one example. The passion fruit is another. Maurice eagerly awaits our return from each dive and asks how we liked it. They offer us tea and coffee several times during the day. They let us eat and sleep anywhere: on deck or below. They spread a tarp over the midsection of the boat to provide shade during the day, and they remove it at night so we can see the stars.

We ate dinner with Jerome and Maurice on deck. We had sushi! Maurice cut some pieces from a fish he just caught today and we dunked it in soy sauce and wasabi. The entree was green beans and carrots and fried fish. Delicieux.

posted by Li at 3:43 AM