Do not bring bananas
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Black Widow Spider? The story is that many, many years ago a sailing ship entered port with supplies bound for a fishing fleet. Among the supplies were bushels of bananas. After loading their supplies the fishing boats raised their sails and headed for the open ocean, unaware that the banana bushels were infested with black widow spider nests. Many aboard did not return alive! Henceforth, bananas have been considered taboo on sailing and fishing boats, and became associated with bad luck. It is forbidden to have bananas on board!
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What's this I hear about no bananas? If you have not heard of the Hawaiian tradition/superstition, absolutely, positively, no if's and's or but's, do not bring bananas on your trip!! Bananas are considered unlucky on a boat in Hawaii, and we have personally witnessed and heard way too many stories to even think about bringing bananas or anything with banana in it on a boat. We wouldn't recommend testing this superstition. Ask your skipper about this age old Hawaiian kapu. |
If you have any additional good reasons why bananas are tabu on fishing boats we'd love to here about them. Please e-mail your reasons to rich@blueribbonalaskan.com. |
Back in the days of the sailing ships, sailors ate fruit to prevent an onset of scurvy. Bananas would ripen and spoil faster than most fruit. The bug larvae in the skin would hatch and infest not just the other fruit but the entire ship itself. It was deemed unfit for sailing ships. Any mention of bananas was seen as a bad omen and would spell misfortune for the voyage.