The first mate on our ship was Renee Bastine. He and I became very good friends. He had sailed the world for years and knew all of the interesting restaurants and places to visit throughout the world. In fact, he talked seven languages. Every excursion with him was an adventure. He took pleasure in guiding me to various out-of-the-way restaurants to experience the eating habits of various cultures. For instance, in the Philippines, at a small Chinese restaurant, I had real Bird’s Nest Soup. In Peru or Chile, he order something which turned out to be baby octopus. I don’t remember much about the taste of Bird’s Nest Soup, but I do remember the baby octopus. Their legs tasted just like French Fries. However I had difficulty with the body because no matter how much you chewed it, it remained like a piece of rubber.
Renee had his whole cabin plastered with pictures of Jean Harlow [the famous blond movie star from the 30’s]. The crew thought that he had a crush on her, but he confided in me that she was his biological daughter! We went to one of her movies in Australia, which was filmed right after she returned from a tour of Europe with Renee. During the movie, he whispered to me, “See, I told her that she was gaining too much weight!” When he was in the Los Angeles area, he stayed at the sumptuous Hollywood Estate which she left to him.
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