Well we celebrated our 20th Wedding Anniversary in June with a trip to Bucerias Mexico. At first it was only going to be the Admiral and I, but then as we were out for dinner about 2 weeks before our departure, talking about our lack of progress recently on Akupara, and the fact that we had been receiving reports of failed surprise inspections, a plan started to develop. See, it turns out that the inspectors had been attempting to make these inspections and each time, when we should have been working on Akupara, they discovered that we actually were not doing exactly that. As a matter of fact, each time they came down, we were not even there. It is one thing to fail an inspection while trying, but it is another to fail for lack of trying.
Our plan had the propensity of backfiring but it was worth the risk. If perhaps there was some remote possibility that they agreed to join us our trip, perhaps, just maybe, we could find a way to get them to forget about our lack of effort and maybe we would get a passing grade on the next inspection!
So with a text message and an ulterior motive, the invite was sent, and within minutes, the acceptance came through!
Holy shit now we are in trouble. Obviously the extra glass of wine at dinner had clouded our judgement, and we had made the decision a bit hastily. We had not considered the fact that we would now have 7 straight days of intense questioning, with no avenue for escape. Damn, what did we do? What do we do? We’re screwed now.
Like all good sailors when confronted with a bad situation, we turned to the only form of solace we know. Rum. And therein we found the answer!
Of course, we just needed to ply them with alcohol for 7 straight days and we might be able to escape the interrogations!
And there it was. The stage was set. And the game was on.
We had a fantastic week with the inspectors. From what we remember anyway! There was lots of food, lots of drink, lots of laughing, lots of evading questions, lots of lame excuses, and lots of more drinking.
We knew we had been successful in our mission when the inspectors turned into advisers and actually started to offer advice and assistance as opposed to bad reports and shakings of the finger.
The 5 hour flight home was rather quiet. I had completely destroyed any hope for my liver ever making a successful recovery, but in the end, it was worth it. We had won. We had evaded the interrogations, and plied the inspectors with drink, and the next time there is a surprise inspection, we may just come through it with a passing grade. 😉
