I was dragged along - whingeing and complaining - to the cinema yesterday,
to see, "Pirates of the Caribbean." with Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush:  And
then had to be dragged out of the cinema - whingeing and complaining - when
I said that I wanted to see it again!  :-)

With more buckling of swashes than wot you could poke a stick at - good
script, good acting, (not altogether reliant on special effects), good
dialogue and delivery, and characterisation that *had* to be based on Robert
Newton's idealisation of Long John Silver - it was pure entertainment.

It did, however, remind me that piracy is alive and well - and flourishing
in certain parts of the world. And a constant threat to dive charters.

I meant to mention, on my return from Kl, in August, the daily Malaysian
newspaper reports - in the New Straits Times - about pirate attacks around
the world.  (The International Maritime Board maintains a Kula Lumpur-based
website devoted to them:  Here's just one report of the many listed, from
the 18th August edition of the NST.  (It's abbreviated!)  :-)

"Pirates who attacked a Malaysian-registered oil tanker off Port Klang last
week used the same modus operandi as the group operating in Aceh, Sumatra."
(Port Klang is close to Kuala Lumpur)
(Snip)
"On August 10, Indonesian pirates armed with AK-47 and M-16 assault rifles
stormed a tanker in the Straits of Malacca and kidnapped three of its
officers after robbing the crew"
(big snip about owners comments)
"Although the captain, cheif engineer and second engineer were taken hostage
together with RM10,000, a cellular phone and the ship's documents, the crew
and cargo were untouched.

"The pirates are now demanding a US$100,000 ransom for the release of the
officers."

Which leads me to think that - apart from never, ever diving from an
unattended vessel - cutlass drills should be part of a DM's training
programme!  :-))

Strike