The Merchant Marine Express

It was awkward to walk on soil, and on which the locals actually spoke good English! You could also sense that there was a holiday presence as Christmas music was being played on various radio stations echoing from inside the taxi.

Speaking of which, I misplaced my cell phone in a taxi. The whole ordeal ended up as usual, leaving with a missing personal item as I departed without any call to Michelle back home to say I loved her. That’s the worst.

I’m not sure what is wrong with people today. You leave a belonging accidentally in someone else’s possession and it takes an act of god to get the damned thing back. I cancelled the phone service, made the call to the taxi dispatch and also efforts to make arrangements to locate the driver of that taxi-all with no luck.

But yours truly, can sure lose some valuables in the darndest places and make for some odd situations.

For Example, back when I was a Cadet at California Maritime during the Summer of 1999 as I was on the training ship and on the island of Roratonga, within the Cook Island chain north of New Zealand, I had misplaced my wallet all while looking for my moped key.

You see, as I ventured off on a rental moped, in search of a pristine beach, I only had on a pair of shorts and t-shirt each with no pockets. And as I found the perfect beach by which to sit and lounge, I flopped the key with its plastic keyfob over the elastic band of the swim trunks I was wearing as I waded in the clear yet coral filled beach. And in the forty minutes or so I was focused on the water and surrounding sights, my key had apparently fallen and dropped into the water.

As I went back to retrieve my backpack (duh!) that I placed on the sand, I was all in a panic as I found no key on my waistband as I was digging through the bag thinking I had left the key in there. Realizing what had just happened, and in a continued panic, I turned around and prayed that I could find the key while looking from above the water. The only challenge was where amongst the coral would it be?

So for the next thirty to forty minutes or so, I desperatley searched a hundred feet of water and miraculously something said to look “down and to the left” and there it was, a bright shine eminating from the plastic key fob as it reflected back some four feet beneath the water and on a piece of coral. I would have told you I would have had better odds winning a million bucks while plaing the Lottery than to find this moped key.

Frantically, I had no time to waste as the “turn in” time had passed and by retrieving my backpack, I was oblivious to the fact that I was leaving behind my wallet on that beach.

My trek back to the moped rental facility was fast, yet, with the lack knowledge of my loss, I would soon find out that my wallet was indeed, “Missing in Action!” I flagged down a local citizen to drive me back to the location I had just frequented; the peaceful beach I had originally intended to relax and enjoy. But the next problem was remembering where that beach was!! For I had only stopped along the road at some random point and the local vegetation all looked the same for miles and miles, my memory escaped me and for the next two hours, I had resorted to finding this wallet with my life in it.

I never did end up finding that wallet. It held “two thousand” Chilean currency, probably amounting to a hundred US Dollars equivalent and about seventy-five Australian dollars.

In that wallet, as well, I had a photo copy of the three of the golden retriever pups I helped raise for purposes of puppy raising or training for assistance dogs along with their canine mother all posing in a group as I remember that time when Sears Portraits had a ‘group portrait’ special and I took advantage of it!

Have a great day folks! Enjoy this last month of 2009!

Tags: MV American Tern