01 August, 620 Tortuga   Professor Octavio Thompson, and his small band of helpers disembarked from their longboat, and walked a few paces up the beach. The Professor stopped, and turned to his companions and said "perfect.....it appears we are first to arrive on Tortuga for the Sandcastle contest. And according to my calculations, this very spot on the beach is the perfect location to build our castle. Its properly distanced from the water, while still close enough to carry our water buckets.     Addressing the two monkeys, he continued "Ulysses, Homer. I want you two to begin unloading the boat." Turning to the other man, "McClanahan! Pay attention! You are to help them out. As the new man on the team, your job is to watch and observe their every move. You may have studied architecture back on Halos, but you have absolutely no field experience. Make like a sponge and soak it all in." McClanahan, looking slightly annoyed, turned to follow the two primates to the boat.    The three began unloading the longboat of its cargo, mostly barrels, along with some tools.    As they stacked up the last of the barrels, McClanahan remarked to Ulysses and Homer "What is the point of all these barrels? I thought this was a sand castle contest?" Hearing this, Prof. Thompson cried out "You're a buffoon McClanahan! Haven't you been paying attention?" Hearing the word "buffoon", the two monkeys turned and looked at the professor, who quickly continued "I said buffoon, NOT BABOON. I know you are not baboons, I just called McClanahan here a Buffoon."    With the boat unloaded, and the Professor occupied with this notes, McClanahan quickly shaped up for himself a chair of sand, cracked open a bottle of rum, and plopped down for a break. The monkeys, seeing him sitting, grabbed some fruit and began eating. The Professor, looking up from his notes and seeing the crew relaxing, dropped his book and let out a shriek. "No no no no....what in the blazes are you doing? Did I say it was break time? You're really trying my patience McClanahan! Can't you just find something useful to do?" With that he stomped off down the beach to calm himself down.   An hour later, Octavio returned to the camp. He was met by the crew, proudly smiling standing in front of a towing sand structure. McClanahan said "you wanted me to do something productive Professor, what do you think?" Professor Thompson, already turning a shade of red, shouted "Are you daft McClanahan? That's not a sandcastle! You're an absolute buffoon McClanahan! (he quickly looked at Homer and Ulysses "NOT baboon!"). Get your head in the game boy! We don't have time for your pretty little sand paintings and towers. I'm a professor! I taught architecture at the Royal Academy of Sciences in Corrington." Hearing this, the monkeys began snickering, and Homer turned to Ulysses and said (in their own language) "what he's leaving out, is he kidnapped the real Architecture professor, and impersonated him for a whole semester before he was found out. He was chased out of the country, and can never go back. He's not even a real professor!" Hearing this, Ulysses began laughing hysterically.    "I've had enough" exclaimed Prof Thompson. "I'm going to town to secure my room and the rest of the supplies needed. Ulysses and Homer, tear down this ridiculous tower. McClanahan, take this book and just maybe you can learn something from it." With that, he picked up his sack and tramped off the beach towards town, muttering and talking to himself "I can't believe I'm stuck with this lot. All of the people in New Nassau, and the best builders are a pair of monkeys, and a boy with a wild imagination. I swear to Zeus, after this I'm going to become a monk".....   _________________________________________________________________________   This is my submission for Category A, for the first ever Tortuga Sand Castle Contest.  With the ever comedic Doctor Thaum organizing the contest, I decided to take a break from the more serious story telling, and inject some humor and comedy into the build. I took inspiration from some of the good Doctor's notorious phrases and sayings, particularly with Callaghan  Can't wait to see what everyone else has in store!