The time before last when he was in Málaga, the Bluffer was disappointed – bhí sé meallta - because the lovely muiríne - marina was shielded by a wall blocking the view of one of the city’s best-known landmarks.
Last month, when he was back, he discovered why.
The marina has been renovated to accomodate sárluamhanna - superyachts!
Not just the ordinary run of the mill luamh - yacht of your average ilmhilliúnai multi-millionaire but small floating villages for the oligarch-about-town, the types who own whole industries, have gold bidets and need bodyguards whenever they want to nip out for a cafe con leche.
But that would be never because they have everything on board. This got the Bluffer thinking. What would he do with a 300ft yacht? What does anyone do on a yacht?
Tagann tinneas mara air - he gets seasick when he is on water so spending weeks on a fancy boat doesn’t appeal to him.
(Bád is a boat and long is ship)
One of the yachts in Málaga is the Lady Moura, which was owned by Nasser Al Rasheed, duine de na daoine is saibhre ar domhan one of the richest men in the world but which is now owned by a fear gnó as Meicsiceo - a businessman from Mexico.
“But what would you do on a ship in the middle of the ocean?” cried the landlubber of a Bluffer.
Well, the Lady Moura has a spa, a casino, party room, several lounges, obrádlann - an operating theatre, bialanna - restaurants, héileaport -a heliport so people can drop by.
The Lady Moura has room for 72 ball foirne - crew members and 26 aoi - guests.
It is seven decks, one just for family members.
But when you ask what the owners of these superyachts do on board the answer is usually - they work.
So the thought of writing this page while heading towards Barbados or Málaga or Dubai – Tory nor Achill nor Arranmore islands couldn’t cope – does have a certain appeal.
Smaoineadh tatraingteach atá ann - it’s an attractive thought but the Bluffer doesn’t like to be away from terra firma for too long even on a state of the art yacht - even the biggest which at the moment is the 180.6m Azzam, built in Germany in 2013 but its crown is about to be taken by another vessel, the REV Ocean.
However the it is different to the superyachts that will be berthed at Málaga or anywhere else for that matter.
The vessel is a privately funded research and expedition vessel (REV) which is currently under construction at VARD shipyards in Norway.
According to extensive research by the Bluffer (ok, he looked up wikipedia) “the flagship of Norwegian billionaire businessman Kjell Inge Røkke’s REV Ocean initiative. “In an interview with the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten (published 1 May 2017) Røkke said he planned to give away most of his fortune.
“As a further step in this plan, he joined the Giving Pledge in 2017, and founded the REV Ocean initiative.”
The initiative claims to have “has an ambitious yet simple goal – to ensure ‘One Healthy Ocean.”
CÚPLA FOCAL
bhí sé meallta (vee shay malta) - he was disappointed
muiríne (mwireenya) - marina
sárluamhanna (saar-looana) - superyachts
luamh (loo-oo) - a yacht
ilmhilliúnai (ilvilyoonee) - a multi-millionairet
tagann tinneas mara air (taagan chinyiss mara er) - he gets seasick
bád (bwaad) - a boat
long (lung) - ship
duine de na daoine is saibhre ar domhan (dinya de na deenee is siyvra er dowam) - one of the richest people in the world
fear gnó as Meicsiceo (far graw as Mexico) - a businessman from Mexico
obrádlann (obradlann) - an operating theatre
bialanna (beealana) - restaurants
héileaport (helaport) - a heliport
ball foirne (baal firnya) - a crew member
aoi (ee)- a guest
smaoineadh tatraingteach atá ann (smweenyoo tareengchakh ataa un) - it’s an attractive thought
