Dear Insane Children,
American here with a quick “Ahoy!” and update. I’ve been super busy with Pirate Jam these past days. Buying provisions, prepping the boats and crew, and making last-minute adjustments to our plans. So many variables and so much variability within those variables: Wind & weather, guest numbers, boat statuses, payment negotiations, and of course… the ongoing coronavirus outbreak (and all that implies).
I gave the event the theme: “Uncertainty“
And woo boy there’s been good reason to have “uncertainty” on the brain.
For example: One of the boats we planned to have in the event broke down and had to be replaced. Not a great situation 2 days prior to the event. But… the coronavirus has scared away all tourism from Thailand and that means there are tons of fancy charter boats sitting around going nowhere. So I managed to get a beautiful Lagoon Catamaran for the Free Lives team from Elite Charters on Phuket… for an off-season price. Woo!
The ATM machine at the marina ate my primary ATM card. This card was issued in Hong Kong and can only be replaced by a trip to Hong Kong (to manually punch in the PIN at a local bank). I’d moved all the event cash to that Hong Kong account – which meant I was suddenly unable to pay for cooks, food, skippers, and other cash-only services. Ouch! But… the local SCB bank staff are wonderful. They agreed to stay late and return my card within 24 hours – instead of the usual “5 business day” turn-around. Woo!
Our cook and her assistant almost quit the event when they realized that their “galley ship” hadn’t been properly equipped in terms of kitchen and cooking hardware. There were sour faces, tense negotiations, and general bad feelings… Not a great situation 24 hours before the boats are meant to leave the dock! But… we sorted everything out and are now enjoying some of the best fresh-made Thai food I’ve ever eaten. Woo!
I guess the moral of the story is that things only remain uncertain for so long. And then the outcome arrives. Good or bad – it’s often better than being in a state of not knowing.
Speaking of things you’d rather not know…
This is what happens when 5 female guests cancel their trips at the last minute. We had a murder mystery dinner planned but not enough girls to fill all the female roles. Should we cancel the murder mystery? Nah… just throw a dress on Phil and, presto-whammo… Bob’s your… mother?
(I too wore a dress and stuck fake boobs down the front… but so far – thankfully! – no pictures of this have surfaced. Ha!)
Anyway, you probably need to go wash your eyes now. So I’ll leave you to it.
From the Pirate Jam Fleet in Phang Nga Bay,
Capt. American