April 6, 2015: Hi there, this is Nukaat. Remember me? It’s been a while since I’ve posted on the blog. I’ve just been so busy.

My days at the dock are chock full of eating, trying to convince my handlers that they should give me treats, grooming, stalking the occasional bug, using my scratching post and moving from one of my many favourite lounging spots on MOKEN to another. I keep pretty busy when I’m not sleeping, although I’ve abandoned roaming the docks at night after I fell in the water a third time. Too embarassing.

Life at the dock is okay. MOKEN doesn’t move around and doesn’t make a lot of noise. But not all that long ago everything changed.

“They” started the big noisy engine thing and we left the dock behind. For a whole month! Let me tell you, I was not a happy cat. For seven straight days we headed south. I spent most of that time in my basket. At least then I don’t roll around too much even if the boat does.

The only good thing that broke the monotony was that they gave me more treats than usual. I bet they were trying to make up for their guilt at subjecting me to so much torture. But I think I need to work on my woebegone look a little more. I can’t help myself. I perk right up whenever I hear the crinkle of the treat bag. I think they might be on to me.

Anyhow, at least they usually stopped moving in the afternoons and shut off that loud engine thing and we stayed put overnight, so I could eat my dinner and do my private cat business in relative peace. Sometimes I even liked to go sit out on the deck or wander around for a little bit of exercise in the evenings. Not much, mind you. I wouldn’t want to overdo it.

When we finally got to the place they called El Nido, we stayed put for a week. What a relief! But then, wouldn’t you know it, they kept abandoning me for hours at a stretch. Sometimes they’d go in the kayaky things and sometimes in the dinghy thing…also noisy. But at least they’d leave a window open for me so I could come and go as I pleased. Whenever they came back, I’d always welcome them home before I reminded them that it was time for dinner or snackies. That’s only polite.

We went to some other places too. Some were new, but some of them looked kind of familiar. Sometimes there were fish jumping. Once, one even landed on the deck but they grabbed it before I could get my paws on it. Occasionally someone came to visit. They were always really nice to me…and usually pretty surprised at how big I am. What can I say? I’m big boned.

Sometimes I liked hiding under the kayak things or lounging on top of the wetsuit things on the deck. Sometimes I liked laying around in the shade outside. Sometimes I liked going on inspection rounds. Sometimes I liked to wrestle with my handlers. They don’t like it very much when I finally catch them with my teeth. Can I help it if I’m a good hunter and they’re the only things I have to hunt? Sometimes I simply liked to stretch out, belly up.

It wasn’t too bad when they didn’t move MOKEN around too much. And at least there was usually a nice breeze so it wasn’t so hot as at the dock place. But then we came back here and there’s hardly a breath of wind. They say summer is here. All I know is I’m shedding like crazy no matter how much grooming I do during the day. And let me tell you, it’s a lot!

I’m not quite ready to hit the docks yet but I do like spending more of my evenings outside on the deck again, especially if one of them is out there with me. So I guess I’m making some progress.