[lit-ideas] Wage on the Sea

John Wager, in "Travel Sugestions??": 
 
>Bahamas; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Salvador,  Brazil; Cape Town, South >Africa; 
Port Louis, Mauritius; Chennai, India; Penang, Malaysia; >Ho Chi Minh City, 
Vietnam; Hong Kong;  Shanghai, China; Kobe, >Japan; Honolulu, Hawaii; 
Puntarenas, Costa  Rica; and then back to >Miami, Florida. That works out to 45 
days at 
 sea and 55 days in >port. 
 
 
My God! Focus on the Sea!
 
Personally, that's what I would do. I recently  acquired a book that I'd 
recommend, it's published by Oxford University Press --  it's a nice, 
old-fashioned, hardcover, called
 
               "OCEAN BIRDS"

-- I collect bird books, and this one covers mainly the  Atlantic, though, 
rather than the Indian, or Pacific Oceans -- or  seas.
 
But if I were to be _forced_ to be on a boat 'passing  by' so MANY cities (or 
harbours) as you mention, I'd only find peace and solace  in the Sea! (and 
what it offers -- spot the albatross, the terns, the tropic  birds -- hundreds 
of so-called 'pelagic' species
 
But let me revise the itinerary for the sake of it.  After all, the sea is 
just a blue blank, as Geary -- who lives inland --  describes it,
 
         "He  had bought a large map -- representing the sea
        without a  vestige of land
        And the  crew was so charmed when they found it to be
        a map they  could ALL understand"
 
        "What's the  good of Mercator...", axed Geary, etc. 
 
Wager name-drops:
 
>Bahamas; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Salvador,  Brazil; Cape Town, South >Africa; 
Port Louis, Mauritius; Chennai, India; Penang, Malaysia; >Ho Chi Minh City, 
Vietnam; Hong Kong;  Shanghai, China; Kobe, >Japan; Honolulu, Hawaii; 
Puntarenas, Costa  Rica; and then back to >Miami, Florida. That works out to 45 
days at 
 sea and 55 days in >port. 
 
 
>Bahamas
 
Well, that's a British colony, so you can sing your "God  Save the Quean" 
there. 
 
>San Juan Puerto Rico; 
 
Find why the Islanders are so keen on St. John The  Baptist. I'm sure there 
is sanctuary near the harbour. (St. John is said to be  the most 
'homoerotic'[or 'lesbian']  of saints because he derived a lot of  pleasure in 
_touching_ 
people in the water). 
 
>Salvador, Brazil; 
 
Well, the complete name is "Salvador de Bahia",  Saviour of the Bay -- and 
you can find out why a Bay _needed_ a Saviour, in the  first place. Bahia is a 
calm place to do NOTHING, not even care to read any  novel by the author of 
"Dona Flor and her two husbands". Lot of juvenile  delinquency in Bahia, so be 
careful. Leave the jewelry in HMS. 
 
>Cape Town, South Africa; 
 
This is exactly opposite Buenos Aires. Strangely, of  all places on earth, I 
would first visit many other places than make it to Cape  Town. It's supposed 
to be (literally) a white town, and it's near the "Cape of  Good Hope", which 
in the vernacular comes out as something close to my surname.  I understand 
the 'town' is strong in Tudor architecture, but I cannot say. T.  Fjeld may 
know 
more about it, even visited!
 
>Port Louis, Mauritius; 
 
Well, this Louis must be a Frenchman. Of  Mauritius-born people I only know 
the author of that fantastic book, "Buenos  Aires: City of the Imagination", 
Jason Wilson. I think he has a book on  Mauritius too. What his _mother_ was 
doing there when she delivered is beyond  me. 
I believe it was a Brit colony, way back -- but S.  Ward, our expert in 
British Pax Britannica may know more about  it.
 
>Chennai, India; 
 
Aha. India has a nice shape of a country. Erotic,  even. I cannot tell where 
"Chennai" is situated, maybe in what Geary calls 'the  nipple' of the 
peninsula. 
 
>Penang, Malaysia; 
 
Geary is the specialist here. He knows all the haunts  in Penang. I would 
suggest a walk in the beach. You can't go wrong with _that_  (but. cfr. tisumi, 
or tiramisu, as Geary prefers). 
 
>Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; 
 
Well, as a Vietnam veteran, Wager, this will bring  memories! Make the best 
of them. 
 
 
>Hong Kong
 
This used to be British. 
 
>Shanghai, China
 
I can never tell the difference between Shanghai and  HongKong. The skylines 
are so _similar_, and the cuisine is also similar. "The  musea are different", 
Geary adds. 
 
>Kobe, Japan; 
 
We heard from McCreery all you _needed_ to hear about  Kobe. 
 
>Honolulu, Hawaii
 
or "Lulu", as Geary prefers, "Honey Lulu". It's part  of the United States, so
 you can sing your anthem. Why the flag of that state  still carries the 
Union Jack as a mise-en-abyme escrutcheon beats me. I find it  rather rude too 
for 
an American State to flaunt its former British colony status  like that. "But 
the music is sweet", Geary adds. 
 
>Puntarenas, Costa Rica; 
 
Odd, there is a Punta Arenas in Chile, too. It just  means "Sandy Point". 
Oddly, the name of the street where I live is also called  similarly, 
"Arenales" 
-- I thought it was because it's so near the water, but  no, it's because of 
this General, surnamed "Arenales", who fought the  Paraguayans and become a 
hero. I suppose with the name like that the beach's  sand must be _very white_ 
and nice, so you can comber (don't you hate the  Victorianism, "beach-comber"?)
 
>and then back to Miami, Florida. 
 
And fly home, soon, and safe!
 
 
>That works out to 45 days at sea and 55 days in port. 
 
Yes, and remember, the sea is to be enjoyed for what  She is. Don't think of 
the itinerary as lines between points. That's what  merchant navy captains 
will want you to belive. For Royal Navy  captains harbours are only an excuse 
to 
sail away.
 
As I was reading in "The Boat Book of Long Island  Sound", there are two main 
pleasures in sailing: sailing _into_ a harbour, and  sailing _away_ from the 
harbour. When I first read that I found it funny and  clever. Now I find it 
also _wise_.

Cheers, and as they say in Mauritius, bon voyage.
 
J. L. 
    SW of Salvador de Bahia
           Buenos Aires,  Argentina
 
                ps. Sorry for the punny title (yes, pun intended) -- but I'm 
not _that_  *inspired* tonight. I first titled "John Wager and the Sea" but 
that's too  literal. 




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