The preventative weather continues but despite that there were a couple of moments of metaphoric sunshine during the past couple of days. In addition to this we have also reached the final journey of 2001 in the memoir an adventure which was simply referred to as The B.U.P.A. Expedition. Not in geographical or chronological order this took my Boss Mike Hugh's and I through Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina with the outstanding highlight being the mighty
IGUAZÚ FALLS
(likely the best Natural Phenomenon we have ever seen,
by comparison Niagara and Victoria simply pale)
with the attendant 'thousands' of
GIANT DUSKY SWIFT
First take in the panorama from the Brazilian side,
before crossing the border into Argentina to get up close and personal.
Walking under the cascades!
Back to the gloom of reality even most of the
have risen dramatically, in line with the number of competitors at
and
taking advantage of the rain puddles for a quick dhobie.
of this end of the year.
still in bloom was followed by not only the bird, but also the 'sighting'
on
We are careful to state this as PCF as there was a female seen 'from'
the farm last year flying down the course of the Moors River.
now where have we come across that before?
are now in place and 'trenching' for cable start tomorrow.
is busied being filmed about her passion - photography.
We started with a little nostalgia and that is where we'll end.
Shipmate 'Sandy' Saunders and I were not in HMS Eskimo together but each dis a 2 years commission in her. You get rather fond of a lady like that which serves you well over that sort period, most of which for me at least was spent in the Persian Gulf (chasing pirates and gunrunners), the Indian Ocean occasionally on Beira Patrol, Mozambique, visiting the Seychelles Islands and assisting Tommy Atkins pulling out of Aden 66'. The first image is before she even got going
with our Mascot the Ross Frozen Foods Eskimo Boy stood on fwd 4.5 Gun.
Royal Navy Air Station 'Yeovilton', Somerset,
while the vessel was in refit.
It was an incident with this aircraft which taught me one of the greatest lessons in life. While in the Gulf, and with plenty of time on our hands, our New Zealand Pilot invited every crew member to undertake a flight with him on a rota basis and as time allowed, during our deployment. Like the only surviving Kamikaze Pilot, 'Chicken Chow Mein', I was the only crew member who didn't take up the offer but by the time my mess mates returned waxing lyrical about the experience, it was too late. Since that time I have NEVER turned down the chance of doing anything that is legal! Fortunately my 18 years working off-shore in the North Sea gave me ample opportunity to redress this matter - as in sick to the back teeth with 'Choppers!
An extremely long shot, but our all too few NZ Readers might like to investigate
who the Pilot was (HMS ESKIMO 1965-66) then E-Mail
captbagsy@btinternet.com
MANY THANKS to YOU SANDY!
