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I am not a fighting man, nor a particularly strong one by any means, but tonight I had the
edge. I stood there, white in the face, adrenalin coursing through my thirty-year-old veins,
eyes squinting, and ready to serve the lout another good crack if he came at me again. I was
aware of the commotion in the room now. People had jumped up and were coming over
quickly. I thought I was for it. I thought like a big communal family they would kill this
evil South African white man spreading hatred and apartheid.
Wonders will never cease. The thug was overpowered by his drinking cronies. He was
shouted at by a number of the local men, and when the manager of the lodge finally came
out, the drunken youths were all thrown out of the hotel. Would you believe, as a final twist
to this rather shocking tale of lovely Lanai, I was bought several rounds of beer which I
drank with the local men who had been sitting like church mice not ten minutes earlier? I
staggered out the door and down the steps of the hunters lodge between two burly locals
who drove me all the way back to my boat. Now there's hospitality for you!
I left Lanai the following week and, with Murphy as my crew and confidant, sailed back
to Oahu, bound for the windward shore and the scenic Kaneohe Bay. All that I can recall
from the return trip to Oahu was Murphy's surprised and delighted reaction to a flying fish
streaking out of the night sea and landing right on top of him in the cockpit. He pounced on
it in a flash and, growling all the while, wolfed it down.
Some months later, after making Kaneohe Bay my temporary home, I received a telegram
from Gavin. “Am flying back to Hawaii stop Had a very nice cruise down to Australia stop
Have to give up my berth on this boat stop See you soon. Gavin.”
He arrived in due course, extremely tanned and buffed, and grinning widely with a few
days beard and a rakish hat. He listened to my plans to head south with great enthusiasm.
“Well, I have just done that whole “milk run” south, so to speak, and I am familiar with a
lot of the islands and their harbors,” he said, doing the weasel face. I grinned back, and said
he was welcome to be the pilot but I would still remain skipper, and gave him the weasel
face back. “Gaantst!” was his reply. We spent a few very pleasant days exchanging news
while preparing Déjà vu for a long sea voyage again. It was an exciting prospect sailing
off again to new oceans, new islands, and new people, and of course new adventures. How
could anybody ever give the cruising life up?
The dinghy needed barnacles scraped off her bottom, as she was dragging heavily through
the water. Gavin offered to row ashore to the jetty opposite Coconut Island and do the job.
It was here on this little island that the comedy soap, Gilligan's Island, had been filmed.
Purchased later by the University of Hawaii, we sailors were no longer able to raft up with
other boats on a Friday night for a party. We couldn't wander around the island anymore
exploring or even to get fresh drinking water. It was definitely time to go!
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