Life's a Stitch

From Nusa Ceningan, Indonesia 

 

Have you ever asked that question about being stranded on a tropical island? If you could bring one thing with you what would you want on that island in the sea? 

 

In a sense we are stranded, eight healthy Canadians unable to break through the bottleneck of the airline’s phone system. We’ve registered with the Government of Canada’s website in case of future opportunity for repatriation flights. Two from our group are scheduled to leave in a couple of days with one flight already cancelled. Our canaries in the coal mine will go to the airport and let us know of any new information.

 

I just heard on a CBC interview with Katie O’Mally from IPolitics that if you are not already in Canada, you are going to have difficulty getting home with the current state of the airlines, closed borders and the number of flight cancellations. Canada is putting measures in place to provide support in the form of emergency loans to those in need who are stranded. We are fortunate to be able to stay with Bryant’s Sammy’s mom.

 

Back to the island. If you have to be marooned and socially isolated, aside from the ever present viral elephant in the room, this place ain’t too shabby. An antique house imported piece by piece from Java, reassembled on a waterfront lot on the island of Ceningan.

The side trip to the island was eventful. Let me start by saying boats are not my thing. Ships yes, but not boats with outside motors and marine gas fumes, that you have to board from the beach. I saw said vessel and the wavey seas and jokingly remarked to M, you read about these things, I can see it in the news – nobody was saved, five of the eight from the same family. 

These are boats with 3-6 motors, designed to go FAST. Off we went, the 8 of us, the captain and his deck hand. At full speed there was a loud crack and a sudden stop, leaving us pitching wildly from side to side. We had hit a log. 

 

In anticipation of the worst case scenario, a flipped boat, we went to different places in our heads. Mine was “get me a life jacket!” R’s was “I knew we should have put our documents in a ziplock.” M went to self-calming “I have Ativan with me.” The men had their own versions. B thought of the Jamieson Whiskey within reach. The engineer had diagnosed the problem in his head “the motor’s shear pin is gone.” KC looked for logical points of exit and C’s was the observation that the boat could flip and wanted more information.

 

Drama aside, after a few wild rocks back and forth things settled down. We arrived at dusk turning to dark. A truck carried the dive gear, two suitcases and four of us to the yellow bridge where only scooters can fit. 

 

B and KC met us on scooters to ferry the bags onward, while the rest of us walked in the dark, motor bikes whizzing by, the 20 minutes to our island getaway. We arrived relatively unscathed, C with a “Bali burn” on his leg, from having contact with the muffler of a stopped motorbike.

 

I need to catch my breath just writing this! That’s the kind of scene your kids don’t tell you about when they’re travelling. They survived, mom and dad don’t need to know.

 

36 hours later we’re all recovering nicely, socially isolated, avoiding crowded restaurants, swimming in the ocean, watching the sunsets, reading and doing the things you do when you have nothing you need to do. 

 

So back to the question. What is the one thing you’d want to have with you while stranded on a tropical deserted island? Besides your significant other, of course. My 1.5 lbs of art supplies, up from the 13oz carried on the Camino. Haven’t used them yet, but I intend to.