Sunday, November 14, 2010

Most $ 1.25 but he $ 55.000 per day

Eighth days in retreat when a visitor arrives.
In a battered Ford Bronco with California license plates.
This is friend Mike who is from Canada but lives in La Paz in Mexico.
He is one of the few persons that know how to find the Fuso Szulc.
And he likes to pass by sometimes to have a chat overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Then Mike tells beautiful stories from a world totally unknown at El Triple.
Like how a yacht arrived at the opening of the bay of La Paz.
Too big to enter with its 127 meter length ( 416 ft).
Belonging to one of the top guys of Microsoft, a guy called Paul Allen who is worth $ 20 billion.
This extraordinary yacht, the "Octopus", build in Germany at a price of $ 200 million, has a crew of 60 persons.
And has for example a door in the back that opens so the submarine it holds can come out and dive.
A submarine that can take 8 people and stay under water for two weeks.
Besides the submarine there are two helicopters, seven boats and a remote controlled vehicle for crawling on the ocean floor.
This boat doesn’t anchor: it has in different places propellors and a GPS system so it can be kept in one place wherever it is.

This yacht takes 849.446 liters of fuel to supply the 8 Mercedes Benz diesel engines of 2.400 HP each.



Friend Mike was invited to come on board this bombastic and exaggerated boat and he reported that he couldn’t even hear the engines nor feel any movement because of the computer controlled stabilizers.

He talked to the captain and asked some very good questions.
Like what was the purpose of the thing.
Costing $ 20 million per year to operate the question is justified what this boat is all about.
The reply was that the boat is about nothing.
They just cruise worldwide looking for exceptional things on the sea.
Like now they were checking if they could find some giant squids.
Once they will locate them, they call the owner of this extravagant boat, Paul Allen, to inform him.
He comes down then in his private plane, gets on his boat by helicopter, checks out the giant squids and travels back to Microsoft in the USA.
Obviously Paul Allen does not find one moment of reflection and contemplation.
Wondering how this excessive spending of money harmonizes with the current state of affairs in the world.
According to Wikipedia over 1.7 billion people live in poverty at $ 1.25 per day but Paul Allen spends $ 55.000 per day to have his boat.

A $ 200 million boat with a crew of 60 to find and see giant squids.
Fantastic.
These giant squids are sometimes right here on the beach of El Triple!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thank you Paul Allen! Your magnificent vessel has provided employment for hundreds of others.