This excellent picture shows a truck I rented in 2009 stuck on a flooded ford on the island of São Tomé, off western Africa. Sean Buckley and Quintino Quade, who both rode with me that morning to the south end of the island, were driving home to the capital without me. Unfortunately it had started to rain. When they came to this river crossing — not a bridge but a concrete ford, which had been dry on the way down — they hesitated. At last they decided to ease the 4×4 through the shallow rushing water. “In about four seconds we knew we’d made a big mistake,” said Sean. They misjudged the ledge of the ford and dropped both wheels off the concrete and into the river. “Now they couldn’t move,” is how the story goes in the surf book. “They opened the doors, and the river flowed through the truck.”

In the end everyone was OK. It was a huge pain in the ass for Sean and Quintino, while I ate fish alone in a shack on the south side of the island. I’ve re-told the story and re-heard the story and laughed at the story; but I’ve never seen a picture. Thanks to Sean, who may not even realize I’ve reappropriated it.

ALSO: Remember that Sweetness and Blood makes a great stocking stuffer.