Triton & Tug Tours

Part of a Children’s story.

Triton and Tug Tours

It was the strange sight of the huge whale, most of its body floating above the waterline, and the small, tiny tugboat waiting alongside for the morning high tide to rise to its highest level, that had attracted a small crowd of passersby. People wandered down to the waterside to find out why there was a huge whale and tiny boat floating just offshore in the Black Sea.

They assembled on the shoreline and shouted at Triton the whale with their enquiring voices. “Are you OK, great whale?"

"Whereabouts are you coming from?”

Triton replied. “I had large lunch yesterday around the Gulf of Odessa, and I ate too many fish. I’m too big now to enter the Bosphorus, I could get stuck on the bottom of the sea. So, I’m waiting here with my good friend Tug the tugboat for the next high tide.”

“Where are you going to, great and mighty whale of the oceans?” The crowd shouted.

“Today, I travel to the Gulf of Mexico to feed on brown shrimp, one of my favorite dishes.” Triton replied.

The crowd were amazed at this piece of information and looked at the huge mountain of a whale floating in the sea.

“Mexico? What’s Mexico like great whale?"

"We are all from a small fishing village in Turkey named Riva, smaller in size than you, and we have never been outside Turkey, we haven’t been outside of the Istanbul region, in fact we seldom go outside our small village of Riva.”

“Why not?” asked Triton in amazement. For a well-travelled whale such as Triton, this was incredible to hear.

“We are poor fisherman and villagers, but we are happy with our lives, just like you great whale, fishing is our lives and livelihood. Most people born in Riva don’t leave the village and never travel. We spend all our days dreaming of travel; places like Mexico.” The crowd replied.

“Well, there’s good fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, and if you want, you can hitch a free ride with me!” Invited Triton.

“I will make a special round trip for you all, in return for those that take the free ride, you must scrub my back. It is full of old scars and scraps, and after some time they get corroded with all sorts of rubbish. It makes my skin itch, and as fast as I swim, the debris never washes away. Triton said inviting a response from the crowd.

“Thank you, kind and mighty whale. That would be a dream come true, but what about our lives here in the village, we fisherman must work each day to catch fish for the market.” Said someone in the crowd, a fisherman.

“We can catch fish on the way, when we get there, and on the way back. The mighty Triton can swallow an ocean full of fish, there will be plenty to spare for your livelihoods, don’t worry." Replied Triton.

“What about the children they must go to school.” A woman standing beside two children said from the crowd.

“They can join, you can all join, there is plenty of space on my back, bigger than your village.” Replied Triton.

“But we would be unable to buy bread from our bakers, and food from the grocer’s shop, and anyway, we could never leave our houses, there are old people in the village and tiny babies to look after, they would not be able to travel on your back. Traveling without protection on your vast body out on the open seas it would be freezing cold, and windy, we would be so cold. Too cold for the fragile young and old. It is not possible: the great and mighty Triton. We thank you for your kind and thoughtful offer.” The crowd of villagers answered.

Triton had to consider all the concerns of the crowd, the villagers. Nonetheless he was eager to take and show these poor people who were unable to travel outside the boundaries of their small village to another part of the world.

“I have an idea, we could take you and your village on my back, but you must scrub and clean my entire body beforehand.” Triton proposed.

“But how are we going to get our houses, and the village shops onto your huge body?” Said the crowd of villagers.

“I have a crane and winch that we can move each and every house and tree from your village and place it carefully on Triton’s back.” Tug said with the confidence of years’ experience of using his crane for so many useful and trouble-free lifting and moving tasks.

“You can bring that lighthouse, if you feel safer!” Suggested Tug, pointing to the lighthouse on a bluff of land.

Riva village was situated on a headland, and the lighthouse had served its purpose in the days when boats and ships didn’t contain navigation equipment. Nonetheless, traveling with Triton was going back in time, the giant of a whale didn’t possess any navigation equipment. Triton didn’t need any, he navigated with his own natural sonar. Tug was there to protect his only disadvantage, and that was his enormous size, when the shallows became too shallow to support his gigantic body.

So, the operation started by moving the village house by house onto the back of Triton. But the first task was to scrub the body of Triton from the bottom of his tail fin, along to the tip of his huge head. Triton would move his body, to make sure all his surface skin was clean.

“That’s so much better, no more itching.” He praised the villagers for their hard work and efforts.

Tug helped move crane bucket loads full of mud from the bottom of the sea, before placing each house on the body of Triton. The mud acted like glue to bond all the buildings to the body of Triton. The villagers added and included their precious olive trees, because the trees needed daily care and attention. The trees were a major part of their annual livelihood, when each autumn the villagers gathered the vast crop of ripe green olives, some to be used to produce olive oil, some to eat.

Finally, the villagers were ferried by Tug from the shore to board their new floating, sailing home courtesy of the giant whale Triton. They sailed or started the journey on the high tide and travelled through the Bosporus waterway. It was a strange sight with Tug leading the way, finding the perfect course for Triton the whale without scraping his newly washed body on the seabed floor. Tug hooted proudly as he steered the procession under the famous 15 July Martyrs bridge of the Bosporus, and into the Sea of Marmara south of Istanbul, and then into the Aegean Sea, and finally into the vast Mediterranean Sea.

All the time the villagers waved at the passing land, as a lot of people watched the strange sight of their village being carried on the sea by the huge mighty Triton the whale, who was following a tiny tugboat. For the villagers this was the first time they had ever been outside the village of Riva, they watched as the different landscapes passed by, different lands, different people.

By the time they had navigated the straits of Gibraltar and saw the huge waves and vast expanse of the North Atlantic Ocean the sun was setting in the west, and it was time to switch on the lighthouse, and go inside their respective houses to sleep. Triton and Tug steered a course towards the Gulf of Mexico.

Unaware to Triton and Tug who were progressing smoothly across the waters of the North Atlantic Ocean, there was trouble brewing of Godlike proportions. The Poseidon family were cognizant and well informed about all matters of the great oceans of the world. Even though there was an uneasy truce between the underwater world, the Gods of Poseidon, after many years of war and conflict with Triton, the giant whale. The Poseidon family kept a watchful eye on Triton’s movements. Wherever he went, and whatever he did, nothing went unnoticed.

When they gained knowledge that Triton was crossing the North Atlantic Ocean with a small village on the top of his back, they became angry. Gods and human beings were banned from connecting with one another, this had been the rule from the beginning of time. They perceived Triton the giant whale as a God. Now that Triton had associated with the villagers he must be taught a lesson, in the eyes of the Poseidon family the rules of the universe had been digressed.

In their underwater palace deep below the oceans of the world, they danced with their tridents, and whipped up a storm, a tempest of unimaginable strength. The strength to tear limbs from bodies, and to cause tremendous damage and destruction. With the power of Gods, the Poseidon family raised their tridents as one and sent the storm from the depths of the ocean, and as soon as the storm surfaced it became a furious airborne monster headed in the direction of Triton and Tug.

The weather satellites picked up the atmospheric disturbance immediately and started to send out warning messages to all vessels at sea regarding the storm and its heading. Triton and Tug were located in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean completely exposed to the oncoming storm. They noticed the dark clouds gathering to the south, as the clear blue sky started to be infected by the billowing inky clouds of grey and black, quickly expanding on the horizon with sudden flashes of lightning followed by far away deep rumblings of thunder, a prelude to the approaching storm.

The traveling villagers on the back of Triton looked out at the approaching storm and started to be concerned. They felt suddenly vulnerable and started to reconsider the invitation by Triton and Tug; their decision to travel to Mexico and eat brown shrimp. Amongst them were experienced fishermen who worked in all weather conditions, but they had never seen such a more menacing storm in their lives. Plus, these fishermen normally fished offshore, never far from a safe habour, or a protective bay to shelter from a storm. Now they were in the middle of the huge North Atlantic Ocean, with their families, their village, their houses; all were at peril to the violent storm fast approaching.

Triton took the lead and advised Tug to start ferrying all the living souls, everyone from their current positions on the back of the huge whale to the safety of the insides of the whale, the huge, cavernous cavity of his mouth. Triton had to be careful not to open his mouth too wide, he didn’t want a deluge of water entering the huge area and drowning his sheltering guests. He only opened it wide enough for sailing vessel of Tug, and all the villagers on board to enter. Once all the villagers were safely inside, some of them sat on the jaws of the whale, most others sheltered inside the floating tugboat. All were out of harm from the oncoming violent storm.

Outside the sea was pushed, punched and molested by the violent storm, the waves were manipulated and abused by the pressure of the storm. The fierce gusts of the wind whipped up the water into a frenzy, and created waves as tall as huge buildings, dark and menacing. Triton took the only evasive action possible, he dived into the depths of the ocean, and submerged himself below the frantic waters being stirred by the violence on the surface. Below surface it remained dark and forbidding, like cloudy black coffee, but as he dived deeper, the visibility and disturbance from the surface had no effect. The underwater ambience that only an artificially equipped human would understand, but it was a welcome respite for Triton, Tug and the villagers now waiting in the darkness of Triton’s mouth. The only illumination they possessed was being powered from Tug’s generator, or their own torch lights. Directing and shining their torches in the darkness, only created the wonderment of their unusual circumstances. The huge mouth of Triton could never be fully illuminated by the light, the darkness inside seemed endless, Tug and villagers were sheltering in another world, but they were safe.

The storm passed overhead on the surface, and Triton knew instinctively when it was safe to return to safe waters.

When Triton surfaced, all the villagers needed to be transported by Tug from inside the mouth of Triton back to their homes on top of the huge whale. The houses and trees were still standing, held in place by sticky mud, as it was glued to Triton’s back. Unfortunately, the houses and their contents were soaked by their unexpected underwater adventure. Nonetheless, as Triton started to swim and make progress towards Mexico, the wind dried the wet branches of the olive trees, and the villager’s opened windows and doors to dry out their homes. The bakery ignited the oven, and soon there was the smell of freshly baked bread.

“Soon I will catch you all brown shrimp of the Gulf of Mexico, and we can make a gumbo to go with that delicious smelling hot fresh bread.” Said Triton.

So, what do you think about the maiden tour of Triton and Tug travel” Tug asked the villagers.

“Amazing they all said, once we get our homes dry!” Chorused the villagers in reply.

“Next, can we go and see Santa at the North Pole?” said all the villager’s children eagerly.

But that’s another episode and adventure in Triton and Tug tours.