The Sun Boat and Nine Lives

Breakfast lunch and dinner. It was the best job I ever cajoled my way into.

"What can you do?",

"I can cook"

"Ok, bring your bag down to the galley, you're hired."

It was a diving boat on the Red Sea. The skipper Ishai and his Irish girlfriend Irene. I had gone to Eilat from the kibbutz to seek out two German's on a boat who were allegedly hiring, but they sent me down the marina to the end boat. Off we went to get supplies. Five boxes of chicken, vegetables and so on to go into the freezer.

At night you could hear the bombs going off under-water off the coast of Jordan, to deter any 'spies', who might be trying to sneak into the country via the under-water/beach route. They also had mined the beaches along the coast. A thing didn't know, when one day the anchor had been lowered, and I impulsively dived in and swam towards one of these beaches, through shark-filled waters, with the intention of exploring the terrain. Half-way there, I heard shouting, looked back at the boat and they were waving at me.

Thinking: "Very friendly" I waved back, and continued swimming. Ronnie, the head-diver, jumped into the motorized dingy and sped towards me.

"Get in quick! There are sharks in these waters! Also that beach is land-mined!" It wasn't easy pulling myself over the large slippery sides of the rubber boat, but I can tell you I did it in record time. Why on earth they had not warned me about this before I had jumped in, is a mystery. I suppose they thought I already knew. The look on Ishai's face when I arrived back on board, I will never forget. Sweat was pouring down his face.

My antics didn't end there. On my break I would venture out snorkeling. Shimon, used to collect puffer-fish and hang them over his bunk dried and fully blown up. On my 'travels', I came across one of these animals and thought: "I can give this to Shimon for his collection." I proceeded to attempt to catch said fish. It darted away from me, as if knowing my intentions. When I got back I related my adventure, and was once again bawled out for putting myself in danger. I would have been instantly paralyzed and drowned on the spot. So, The Book of Dangerous Fish, was presented to me for my perusal.

Another time out swimming, I had cut my knee on a piece of coral. I saw a dog fish, which, to me, looked like a shark. I could see him circling under me, and could also see the blood oozing from my leg. I swam for my life! And I got on to deck, my heart was pounding so hard I thought it would literally explode. Maybe it was a shark, I will never know. Either way, I was again admonished, for naivety and recklessness.

How I managed to stay hired on the boat for three and a half months, escapes me. Must have been that they liked my food. I did after all, cook a pretty good stuffed bell-pepper. And my toasted grilled 'storm' sandwiches, were a hit with the guests. They were christened such by way of me being asked to cook lunch during a particularly rough sea. While most of the guests were heaving over-board, a hardy American, challenged me to make a grilled cheese. It was quite the experience, akin to trying to butter bread on a roller-coaster ride. But I was adventurous to the max and nothing seemed to phase me in those days.