Costa cruise ship to the rescue

Graham Hughes is a man with a mission. He has set himself the task of visiting every country in the world in one year – without flying or driving anywhere.
He has to use public transport on land, and because his expedition is hoping to raise £1,000,000 for charity, he can’t exactly splash out when it comes to travelling over water.
Finding himself stranded in St Thomas, in the US Virgin Isles, he was delighted to be offered a lift to the Dominican Republic on board the cruise ship Costa Fortuna.
He could hardly believe his luck, and wrote in his daily blog:
“A wonderful guy named Donald Ferguson, a representative for Rooster PR, had gone out of his way to sort it out. What a legend. THANK YOU Donald!
“Excited, I headed down to the port to meet the very lovely Roberta and Rosa, who added me to the passenger list and gave me my Costa Card. I was in! I’d be in the Dominican Republic in the morning.
“I was given a cabin and a ticket for dinner, but better than that, I was allowed to go up to the bridge to watch the ship disembark with the captain, who instructed me to watch out for the signal as we pulled out of port.
“What signal?
“ ‘Well, the ship gives three long blasts, then the lovely ladies who work in the harbour-side sushi bar come running out and they lift up their tops and that’s the signal so we can depart.’
“I thought he was joking!!
“But no, this is an important maritime tradition amongst the crews of the Italian liners and the girls of the sushi-bar. A time-honoured tradition that I for one was proud to be part of. And happy to get on tape . . .!