Paul Coleman
Pirates and Watermelons
This might seem strange nowadays, but I never knew watermelons existed until I arrived into Caracas Bay, Curacao in January 1972 on my first trip to sea. This was the first time I set foot on a foreign shore. I was amazed to discover that those great big green things that the locals were carrying up the gangway were melons. What a magical time of discovery that was!
At Caracas Bay there was also a castle, said to have been built by Captain Morgan the famous pirate.

How fitting it was to find a pirates castle on an island in the Caribbean. The first book that I ever read, which was given to me by my dad when I was a kid was 'Treasure Island' and now here I was sailing the seas in search of my own treasure, one that turned out to be the planet on which I sought my treasure!
'Morgan's castle photo originally appeared on http://www.rhiw.com/y_mor/blue_funnel_02/life_at_sea/peggy.htm