What’d I miss?

So…lets see…where was I? Oh yes, with EV stashed safely floating in Malaysia in the lagoon Marina at Rebak Island, a tiny speck a mile off a somewhat larger island called Langkawi, as previously noted, we’ve been able to do a spot of soul-enriching deep traveling in Asia.

After our quickly improvised visit to the states to see a surprise new family member, it was obvious that it was time to pull the trigger on a new and improved knee. Stainless or titanium? My doc squints at Yours Truly and says, “At your age, you’re not going to need the titanium” and he can do it tomorrow! They don’t mess around here in Malaysia. I thought it was a nice touch when my nurse presented a plastic zip bag with my old knee to me, just like a car repair shop that shows you your old shocks so you can say, “Yep, they were bad.” And so it goes.

Maybe you don’t have to endure as much pain as I did while rehabbing a new knee but I can say, not much happens until the swelling goes down.

I’d devised ways to get around Escape Velocity with a bad knee so I found it surprisingly easy to negotiate the boat with a rather stiff new one. One day as I was mounting the three giant “Simon says” boarding ladder steps up to EV’s deck, I noticed that it’s getting a bit easier and I wonder if I can get the knee bent enough to pedal my folding bike. There’s only one way to find out. “Johnny Fairplay” has to admit that the first couple of strokes put a few tears in my eyes but riding my bike was like freedom to me.

We were both finishing so many projects on EV that I can’t remember them all and that’s the way it’s supposed to work. If we’d remember them all we wouldn’t do this to ourselves.

That’s when we heard of something called Covid-19. Seemed quite remote but China is in our neck of the woods and the Chinese seem to like visiting the resort on Rebak Island. It bears watching.

In no time the world turned upside down. The resort closed. Langkawi shutdown. Malaysia shutdown. Asia shut down leaving a handful of us yachties stranded at our marina with nowhere to go, and visas expiring. We wouldn’t even consider the descent into the chaos and madness of the twinkle toes magical thinking of anti-science USA.

We watched them drain the pool, close the resort, kick out all the guests, close our beach Tiki bar and the yachtie’s own Hard Dock Cafe. This is probably one of the safest quarantines on earth. Nothing but hornbills, sea eagles, monkeys, monitor lizards, and more snakes than any of us want to think about. Especially the three-meter python that squished a little ship’s cat one night, right beside a sleeping yachty. Yikes!

Our friend Mike was on his way to Japan when the border closed while he was airborne. Five or six canceled flights later he barely made it back to Rebak as borders slammed shut behind him. Many of our friends are trapped on islands in a long stream heading west across the Indian Ocean.

So here we sit, with EV gently tugging on her dock lines as the tide slowly flows in and out of the lagoon, taking a morning walk or maybe a ride on our only nature trail which loops around the island, past the empty pool, to the ghost town of our resort.

There are rumors, but there’s always scuttlebutt around a Marina.

“There is no more status quo,

But the sun comes up and the world still spins.”

6 Comments

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6 Responses to What’d I miss?

  1. Pat Tilson

    “If we’d remember them all we wouldn’t do this to ourselves.” I’m having this engraved and mounted! Glad to hear all’s (more or less) well!

  2. Wesley J Smith

    Jack, so good to hear from you guys, but I must comment on your comment,…”the chaos and madness of the twinkle toes magical thinking of anti-science USA.” This nonsense is limited to Trump and a few of his braindead followers, the rest of us USA folk are quite comfortable with science. In about 50 days Trump will be looking for meaningful employment.

  3. Marilyn Vincenti

    This message is March 31! It is September 2020. What a delay! Praying and hoping you are all well. Marilyn

  4. Great to hear from you after so long. Onwards and upwards!

    Mark & Deanna
    ex s/v Speakeasy

  5. Cindy Balfour

    excellent

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