38:03.28N 14:43.63W Walking the Dog

Irene IV - World Adventure
Louis Goor
Fri 15 Oct 2021 17:15

Our barque was transformed into a yoga studio in the early morning hours.
The sun had risen and the glories of nature extolled, when off to the bow we
marched lifting knees towards chest to limber up for the poses to come.
Louis, Eddie and Sabine, the earlier night watch crew were in attendance,
while the night clubbers, Stuart and Jono slumbered. A pod of dolphins, a
larger more grey skinned species than those we had spotted before, leapt out
of the water on our starboard quarter, apparently wanting to join us in our
peaceful pursuit! The crescent shape they formed as they leapt many meters
out of the water was akin to Olympic synchronized swimmers. They dashed
towards a suspected school of tasty breakfast fish on our port bow,
encircling the poor blighters, salivating. Like the witches in Macbeth, they
stirred their cauldron. After a topsy turvy flurry of activity, lips
smacked, flippers wiped, they exited stage left, leaving left overs for
others to clean up.
Eddie has been teasing us with the promise of a special breakfast, involving
avocados, eggs and sausages. Today was the chosen day and we delighted in
every bite. Not to put too fine a point on it, we have been eating well.
There is an additional crew member that we have not thus far mentioned -
Bertha! Bertha is a cow, in the shape of a bottle, filled with tasty Irish
Milk Gin. Containing the memory of Bertha, a legendary cow from Sneem, Co.
Kerry, who lived to the ripe old age of 48, was the brain child of Justin
Green and Anthony Jackson. "Using whey alcohol from local dairy farmers here
in Co. Cork, together with our own natural spring water and incorporating an
interesting mix of locally foraged and grown botanicals, we have
hand-crafted a gin reflecting Bertha in her prime." The site of the
distillery is the beautiful old country home, Ballyvolane House, of the
Green family, near Fermoy, Co. Cork. The gentlemen pair use the translation
from gaelic of Ballyvolane, place of the springing heifers to emphasize the
rich fertility of the land that provides the ingredients for their tasty
tipple and their grass to glass philosophy. Justin and Anthony are both very
taken by the mission we are embracing on our sailing voyage and have asked
us to bring Bertha along. Their enterprise, Ballyvolane Spirits Company,
donates a percentage of annual sales to charity. They like to choose a
special charity each year to focus on, next year they want to champion one
of our affiliates, Oceanic Society. Welcome aboard Bertha!