Update on the Adventure...

Our adventure started sooner than expected. Mal’s briefcase was stolen in
Brussels airport. Gone were our passports, boarding tickets, visas for
China and Vietnam, money, jewelry, telephone, which doubled as Mal’s phone
book, camera, and saddest of all, our faithful cribbage board, a gift from
Jerry and Joyce Tully, that has traveled the world with us. It happened at
the baggage carousel while were distracted by our suitcases. The police were
familiar the modus operendi of the thieves, gave us their condolences and
wrote up a comprehensive report. This happened on a Sunday and so there was
nothing to do but find a centrally located hotel from which to launch our
recovery plan. Sunday was a bleak day.

Our good friend, Bert Willitt, once counseled that the difference between
disaster and adventure was attitude – and yes, the word attitude arose on
several occasions, but by the time we retired on Monday night, we had:
Two brand new U.S. passports
Two new Chinese visas in our brand new passports
Copies of our yellow fever vaccinations, a must have to enter China, in the
Fed. Ex. system winging their way to Brussels
Money also on its way, courtesy of American Express
A promise by the port agents that we could board without our
tickets

The Vietnamese embassy was closed on Tuesday so we spent the day picking up
the wired money, getting our suitcases aboard the Jakarta in Antwerp, and
returning to Brussels to beat a path to the suburb of Ganshorn, where our
good friends Francis and Deirdre, who were in Edinburgh, put their flat at
our disposal.

Wednesday morning we were issued our Vietnamese visas and at 3.00 P.M. we
boarded the Jakarta with an E.T.D. of midnight. Miraculously we had replaced
all the documents needed for our trip except our proof of vaccination
certificates. They were scheduled to arrive at Francis’s flat on Thursday.
Mal and I stayed up to watch the crew cast off. At 1.00 A.M., in the
absence of any activity on the boat, we retired for the night expecting to
awaken in the English Channel. Not so. We awoke still docked! The fuel
company had filled us with the wrong fuel. It took most of the day to
correct the problem. Meanwhile our vaccination certificates arrived in
Brussels. Francis, who had returned from Edinburgh on Wednesday afternoon,
hopped in his car sans shower or breakfast and drove all the way to Antwerp
to deliver our certificates in person. What a friend! By the time we
sailed, we had managed to replace all of the documentation necessary to our
trip.



We cast off Thursday evening at 7:30 P.M. The port of Antwerp is one of the
largest in Europe. It is on a river which stretches from the city of
Antwerp to the Netherlands. It takes 6 to 8 hours to navigate through the
river and estuary to reach the English Channel. At approximately 1:00 A.M.
Mal and I were rudely awakened by the thumps of moving objects in our
cabin. We had just cleared land and were heading out into a storm in the
channel. It took some tidying of loose objects before we were able to get
back to sleep. The pilot who guided us out of Antwerp was still onboard.
Several attempts to get him into the pilot boat that same night failed
because of the storm. Scuttlebutt was that he was planning to disembark at
Folkstone.

Friday morning found us running along the English coast. We had just
finished lunch (food is great)when a crew member invited us outside to see a
helicopter hovering very close to the ship. There was a man dressed in an
orange suit suspended from the helicopter. He had a microphone strapped to
his chest but he appeared to indicate his wishes using hand signals.
Imagine our surprise when he gently swung toward us as if to land on our
ship.

Could the man in the orange suit have anything to do with our pilot?

We watched with interest as he made several more failed attempts to land on
our boat. Suddenly the helicopter withdrew reeling up our man in the orange
suit. As they prepared to take off they waved us all a hearty good bye.
The British coast guard was carrying out a training mission and chose our
boat as their target vessel.

We are two of six passengers, two Canadians, one Brit and one German, all
men, and all very companionable. The Officers and crew held a welcoming
party for us on Saturday night. I will let the photos speak for
themselves. So far Mal and I are having a wonderful time. As I write this
we have passed Gibraltar and are heading through the Mediterranean sea
toward Genoa.