Banana on board?

[RJP]

Split from another thread where I had suggested that while bananas might be a good source of potassium, they are also considered to be a good source of bad luck on boats. As "proof" I offer the following story...

We had a "banana eater" on our boat recently. Myself and one of the passengers lightheartedly teased the guy and told the captain he should have the bananas tossed overboard. Captain's response was a completely understandable "Ha, ha. Funny, but I'm not superstitious. Leave the guy alone."

No problem, because while I'm a b@ll buster, I'm not superstitious either.

:blinking:

The dive day started with myself and another crewmember being "reeled in" by some passengers who decided to go fishing during the surface interval. Not realizing there were divers in the water they snagged my wreck line, yanking my reel out of my hand leaving me completely lost 250' off the wreck out in the sand. I was running out of NDL time and contemplating a free ascent from 130' in a current 33mi off the NJ coast.

I was fortunate to come across the other crew-member. Figured I'd just follow her line to the wreck and then ascend on the anchor, and I'd pick up my reel wherever I left it on the second dive. I signalled to her I lost my reel, waved goodbye, and started to follow her line back to the wreck. Except her line was suddenly going straight up! I ascended a bit quickly to find a fishing hook rapidly bringing it to the surface, I was able to cut the monofilement so her line dropped back down. But now I'm midwater with no line again. Fortunately I figured I must be under the boat, and was able to get to the hang line and all was fine other than a banging CO₂ headache from over exertion. Did my stop and surfaced to get back on the boat, only to find the other crew member doing a surface swim and up screaming at me because, not knowing what was going on, she assumed I grabbed her line and took off with it to the surface. We squared away what happened and eventually all was fine. (Except for announcing very loudly to anyone in a 30mi radius exactly what a very bad idea I thought it was to fish off a dive boat with people in the water.)

Just a coincidence with the bananas on board? Read on...

While the passengers were doing their second dive of the day I was on deck and had the great opportunity to practice my rescue skills when an unconscious, non-breathing, cyanotic diver appeared at the surface off the bow. Jumped in with no gear on and towed her back to the boat, where we were able to successfully rescuscitate her. Thankfully she's 100% fine, but the last time I saw her she was being hoisted in a basket lowered from a Coast Guard helicopter onto the deck of our moving boat and whisked away to UPenn for treatment and a chamber ride as a precaution.

I'm still not sure about the captain, but I'm now a believer in no bananas on board! (No fishing poles either!)

 

[merxlin]

Oh god, now were going to hear about bad luck potatoes (his spelling, not mine) again.

Great job on the rescue. And fishing from a dive boat when divers are in the water? Thats just plain wrong.

 

[paradicio]

What kind of idiot fishes off a dive boat with divers in the water, really? How hard do you have to think about it to realize that's a bad idea...

Thanks for sharing the stories RJP!

 

[don Francisco]

You're right, bananas shouldn't be on board.

I'm not talking about those yellow slippery ones. I mean the kind of bananas who would drop fishing lines onto divers from their own boat. Then again what about the crew that would allow that.

it's enough to make you go .......

 

[The Anchor]

It is also bad luck to have women on board unless they bare them selves to the sea. I fully support this superstition.

 

[Gombessa]

It is also bad luck to have women on board unless they bare them selves to the sea. I fully support this superstition.

Why do I get the sense that this superstition would garner even more support if you replaced "sea" with "crew?"

 

[DennisS]

It is also bad luck to have women on board unless they bare them selves to the sea. I fully support this superstition.

I picture a cruise ship full of blue haired femme fatales bending over and rapidly straightening up as they play shuffleboard----shudder

There is an urban legend about a local Miami charter boat Captain. Bouncer Smith definitely ranks in the best of the best among charter boat captains. They were having a bad day and he asked if anyone had bananas onboard. No one did. He asked if anyone was wearing fruit of the loom underwear with the banana on the label. One guy was. It turns out he was a bigwig with fruit of the loom, you will no longer see bananas on the tag for fruit of the loom underwear. I don't have any fruit of the loom underwear so I can't verify the story.

Fact-Urban legend, who knows?

I just got off an oceanographic cruise from Oregon to Alaska and back to Seattle, bananas were onboard the whole time. The project got finished ahead of time, no one got hurt and we arrived in Seattle 16 hours early. I did have trouble installing a SATA drive, probably due to the bananas.

 

[Ken abucs]

Fruit of the Loom Never had bananas in their logo.

 

[Diver Lori]

I was in the Coast Guard and there were always bananas on the boat. When they got too ripe, the cook made banana bread.

 

[DennisS]

I was in the Coast Guard and there were always bananas on the boat. When they got too ripe, the cook made banana bread.

The cooks on the NOAA ships do the same thing