almost Arrested & Searched

no, I understand you're doing your job and we're trying to come to an agreement and I've disabled it twice now I'm trying to come to an agreement here okay I'll try one more thing okay I mean if I'm going to give it to you give Next thing the boss comes out trying to confiscate it. It was a big accident. They're tied inside next to our boat and, yeah, I'll show you no. I don't know if I can show you from here, but there's a hit right here in front of this panel and it just blew this ceiling panel out.

I really want to express this video, I'm just saying we're, this is the closest we've ever been. We've been together, I'm Ben, that's Ashley, we did the unimaginable, we sold everything and then set off on a mission to sail around the world's civilization, we'll see you later, 20 countries later, over 25,000 nautical miles away, we're only halfway around the world. I have no idea what's going to happen, subscribe to follow the adventure as we finish this round. It's crazy how you can smell certain things in the sea. Your sense of smell becomes very attuned to what's out there because sometimes you haven't smelled anything for days and weeks.

Sri Lanka was amazing. I wish we could stop there, but unfortunately we have to go. The season is changing here in the northern hemisphere and we have to go to the Maldives, then go under the equator and head to the Seychelles. The waves of our boat are the only ones. in this section of the ocean it's our last night here uh we've been out at sea I think 12 days ago something like that, I could be wrong. I'll check that out. 11 days at sea and it's the first time. We have been traveling with the children. It's the first time we've been traveling in over two years, so there's a lot to discover on this trip.

For sure two years in Thailand we will finally be in the Maldives. Who wouldn't have guessed? We thought we were trapped. I can't believe we left Thailand. First of all, I thought maybe we would never leave. The last few days have been very hard. We were both tired and I think the sun went down. For us it has been very, very, very hot during the day and we never get out in the sun well. He had to fix a cane again. The slats have been a real problem on this trip. Even without wind, they have been breaking.

He ended up with heat stroke, some kind of mild heat stroke, so he had a little bit of a high temperature, he was hot, he was cold, he was lethargic, uh, it was bad and he was nauseous and he was vomiting, actually, which is a bit. a little scary, I was getting really scared, plus we have the two kids and all the boat stuff to do and he couldn't do anything, luckily there isn't a lot going on here, there wasn't a lot of traffic we were in. I contacted a doctor Ken and one of the things he told me to buy before we left Thailand was this oral rehydration solution.

I think it's called that. I think he saved us the other day when Ben was sick, but other than that, the past has been a great passage, it's definitely been a good passage, it's been a passage of a lot of growth for the children, bodhi was a little boy with eyes wide open that he looked around before starting and now he is an animal, he staggers forward on all fours, he is crawling like an army. rolling like an alligator to get places he is six months into this trip he started eating food it is crazy he has changed a lot and willa is also thriving totally loves it he climbs all over the boat inside out now he is fantastic he holds up when it is rough a she doesn't care she's changing very quickly absorbing the learning I'm just going to be very careful with that okay I see you turn this and the inside always stays the same when you say compass you say bearing compass that's how we find other ships here we look If we take them up to the If we see what her bearing is, then we can point out that she thrives on the boat and no matter where the boat is or what she is doing, I think a lot of that is because the parents have been around a There is a lot in this passage and a The kids love that that's all they need is just parents 24/7.

We color, play with toys, watch movies and have had some beautiful moments. Oh look, can you see them? It's intense. Look down here. They have come to sit on the edge with mom, the same boy who came up on the shift and the stars are outside and it is beautiful and they are reflecting in the ocean because the ocean is glassy, ​​it is sad that a passage comes to an end as always . I love my late nights here at sea. Yes, I get tired often, but you also have time to reflect without shouting. in terms of windows and this is what we have and we took it and we are delighted to be here we will talk tomorrow when we get to the Maldives we will be there tomorrow that is all we have left for the drums 40 60 80 100 120 140.

These are all empty . 41 nautical miles left. We will be there this afternoon and we can't wait. I am very excited. What are they doing? I'm going for it, guys, daredevils, that's the only step we have. The cabin mom saw me crawling out this last time and I was faced with a mix of what life is like on board with two little kids mom um there's no free time like no it's amazing I mean I'm looking forward to getting to the Maldives because after two weeks of not being in Aterriza, it would be good for her to go for a little run.

We haven't been in touch online for 12 or 13 days, but you forgot. There is still a war in Europe. At the moment there is the destroyer, I don't know. navy ship leaving um i have no idea what's going on in the world it's kind of nice the world does its thing it's going to keep doing its thing no matter what we do here we anchor to see if this thing holds up we're in deep water oh, It feels so good to be here, can you believe it? oh it's so good let's press this button the engine turns off for the first time in 12 days 11. 11. something I have really doesn't matter we lost count I think we turned off the engines for about four hours total this whole trip here, yeah, there's a lot of traffic, we knew that, although we went in and took that weather window because it's supposed to keep generating headwinds, so we took the windless window.

We think it's the last window to get here from Thailand without going south. I don't know if we've ever explained it, but when you travel by boat you have to voluntarily register in each country, so you arrive and call. Customs is not like a border where you have to go through gates, you just call them and tell them we are here, you have to call them beforehand and tell them we are arriving in a week on the day and they just called us. on our sat phone they said they would come so we are waiting and you wait then a few hours later they come and then you pay some money and then often there is customs and then there is immigration and then there is health poor captain yeah , as soon. since there is a harbormaster who also has to have a job with his pencil and paper, oh Ben, don't go there and that's it, so that's what we're doing now, we're just waiting for the time to come above, so I have the coast guard here in the Maldives and they are trying to take my gun safe from Indonesia.

It is a very special screw gun. It doesn't really work, we just disabled it, cut it off and now they're trying to take it. away from us, we made a big mistake, we are here in the Malaysian Maldives, it is a port city, it is busy and today we came closer to being

arrested

and

searched

in a foreign country, it was not really scary, but we pushed it. a little too far and two things happened: one, um, ben made a mistake, ben made his mistake in his custodial statement, his personalized stuff, well wait, let me back up, let's set the framework here, so before we even go from Thailand, I had to file a bunch of paperwork to enter the Maldives which included declaring if we had harpoons on board.

That's usually totally fine as a cruising yacht because, well, you're transiting the country and you're taking them with you, no problem. We are not typically violent people, so they wanted to see our harpoons when we arrived and we showed them that one was a lobster trap and the other was an Indonesian harpoon that was given to us in exchange by the Indonesians. In the middle of the night it was very sentimental. We had to leave the cabin. There is a coast guard there who does not want to be filmed. We are trying to maintain the spear.

This is a rifle that is very expensive. for me, uh, some of you might remember we traded it for some t-shirts, what's your name? Oh my name is my name usman usman ben ben ben do, that's a great souvenir, we are trying to get it home to Canada, but they want to confiscate it. Here in the Maldives, yes, so we didn't want to give up that weapon because basically what they say is that they take it away when you enter, it's like a weapon, they treat it like a weapon, like a big weapon. a real gun that actually shoots, this thing literally shot if it had because the elastic was so rotted it would have shot off a foot and a half, so we're talking about a half fun anyway, they're confiscating it and then we can get it to the exit, so it's not a big deal, except we're going into Mali, we're going in from the north and we're going out from the south, yeah, so it has to be transported to the south, which apparently they have.

To send as a guard, as a coast guard has to be, we have to pay a coast guard person to transport this weapon to the south, which will be expensive and we are basically saying goodbye to it, so we try to explain that it is not a rifle It's ornamental that didn't work we cut the elastic to deactivate it that didn't work then I kept breaking it with my knee uh and that really pissed them off I think one thing better it's not a weapon anymore it's not a weapon can you? take down your post, send, I mean if I'm going to give it to you, I might as well give you a breakdown, this is very very unwelcome for us, you get it, we get it, but we didn't understand the laws when I came in, you should have stated that It was not a weapon because it is not a weapon.

Can you change your statement? The gentleman on the boat was really charming and he saw that I was no real threat. He knew it was nonsense. um but the law is the law you can have the gun I mean there's nothing else we can do please take it oh and when they left oh my gosh there was a huge ferry going by right and no They untied themselves, so they tied them up. They never should have tied up, they came with a cute little speedboat, whatever and, uh, the guy didn't really know how to drive, I think, or parallel park, so he basically crashed into our boat so hard he left a dent on the side.

That and holy shit, what just happened, I don't know what to think, this is outrageous, the waves are outrageous, they make you anchor here in this horrible place in Malaysia where it's super deep and then a big boat goes by and they don't do it. I even noticed and they crashed into the side of our boat and there's a big dent now. I'm not even sure we have to get on our boat and check it, but I think we should move the boat first because it's getting dark. Shall we filter? Another big one is coming. I think it was a little dense, but you may have gotten lucky.

It could have been a hole, of course, which they don't document. They just leave. We'll have to look at it from the inside and see if there are any cracks anyway, it's just another day in paradise, not that we can hold them responsible, but they can hold us responsible, so part of this is also that we just got out of a passage of 11 days. We're tired, we're exhausted, we're kind of emotional and I think we made a bad decision, honestly I think we should have given up, but the way these situations are, you think you can negotiate, you think you can persuade, but I can't in some of these. countries and I think we should learn from that mistake and honestly not let this experience ruin our Maldives cruise because they were just doing their job and we were just trying to, I guess, protect someone.

Im in pain. I'm tired and we were just trying to protect something that was meaningful to us because we'll see how much it costs to get it back, but I think it's going to be a lot, it's kind of fun anyway if we get it back uh. It's going to have quite a story to tell, it broke, it got cut, and we

almost

got

arrested

for it, oh my god, anyway, it's ridiculous, plus, I'm fucking exhausted and so grateful to be here and actually totally disappointed that let's be here in this. port because it's disgusting, I'm not going to lie, so here we are in the Maldives, we'll sleep all night if we don't hit anyone, someone else's land, man, they're hardly ours and that's part of zillions across the world and you know this is one time out of I don't know how many countries we've been through we're still stuck in the maldives we're still waiting for the cruise permit um and we're not allowed to leave this port with our boat it's been 10 days since we got here , we go through phases of resignation and acceptance, of being quite upset, of being a little angry, of looking towards the exit and getting out of it. of the country and just leave, which is actually a distinct possibility if we don't get our exam permit by Sunday, we haveDecided we'll just leave, where do you want to go?

There is no beach here, there is no beach, I know, I know. we'll go for a boat ride okay, okay, we'll go for a day trip you can drive, okay, let us tour the harbor, at least okay, that would be fun, okay.